Joker's New Interest
by JokerKid988
Summary: After looking at a random man with scars for too long, Kate Pierce gets caught up with the Joker. Will she survive? Will she find something out about the Joker that no one else knows? Kinda crappy summary. Please R&R. Coarse language/violence/possible lemons.
1. Chapter 1

Beep…beep…beep…

I grumbled. I don't want to get up. I'm not always a morning person. I push up from my bed and search blurry-eyed for the stupid alarm. I spot red numbers on a screen and reach above it for the snooze button. After the persistent beeping stopped I climbed out of my bed and walked into the bathroom connected to my room.

I was a girl of 18. I had graduated top of my class in Gotham State University, in engineering. I was 5'7, and slim. My hair is a dirty blonde and cut in a bob. I always hated having to take care of long hair. So I decided to chop it off. I had moved out from my parents place at 16, considering they were both drunks and drug addicts. My life hasn't been very easy, and I tend to get pissed off rather easily. But, having a hard life does have its perks. You won't let anyone push you around.

I work at Wayne Enterprises, with Lucius Fox, in weapons engineering. He came to the university and offered me the job before I had even graduated. So of course I took it. It has some really great pay.

I climbed into the shower and turned the water on cold. I grabbed my Herbal Essences shampoo and scrubbed my hair. I rinsed and smoothed in some conditioner and let it sit while I scrubbed down my body. I took a second to just stand and let the cold water run over my body. Sighing I turned the water off and grabbed a towel.

I stepped out of the tub and stood in front of the mirror. I reached to the bottom drawer of my cabinet and took out my makeup bag. After applying a very small amount I dried my hair and walked back into my room. I peeked at my clock. It was five-thirty. I needed to hurry up. Running to my closet I picked up a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I rushed to the kitchen and poured a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. I choked down the cereal as I pulled on my jeans and shirt.

Putting the empty bowl in the sink, I rushed back into my bathroom and brushed my teeth. And about five minutes later I was running out the front door to my building and down the street. Suddenly my cell was ringing and I reached in my front pocket to retrieve it. It was Lucius.

"Hey, Lu. What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing much. Are you on your way?"

"Yes. I am walking down the street as we speak."

"Ok. Be careful and see you in a few."

I ended the phone call and stuck it back in my pocket. Lu always called me in the morning to see how I was doing. He always seemed concerned about me. I think it had something to do with what we worked on. Me and Lu made things like armor and weapons, sometimes a vehicle or two. He always said it was for the military but I didn't believe him. The stuff really wasn't military standard. I would try to slip one up on Lucius and see if I could find out what we really made the stuff for but he was quick for an older man. I grabbed my iPod out of my Other pocket and put in my earplugs. I turned it on and just let it start playing.

I turned the corner and had only four more blocks until I reached Wayne Enterprises. My iPod started to play my favorite song, Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace, blaring on high in my ears. I was halfway down the current block when I started to slow down. There was a tall man leaning up against the wall of a antique store. He wore jeans and a purple jacket, and had a cap hanging low on his head. He really wasn't doing anything but standing there. But there was something somewhat unsettling about him. As I get closer I try to get a closer look at his face. The cap hid most of his face but I could see one side of it. And I stop completely.

There was something on his cheek. It started at the corner of his mouth and reached about mid-cheek. It was puckered and disfigured. Suddenly he looks up and looks right at me. He smiles and chills run down my spine. His smile was made creepier when the main lyrics came in, 'So what if you can see the darker side of me? No one will ever change this animal I have become…' I turn away and start walking again. But I stop after I passed him. I realized then that on his face was a scar. There was only one person in all of Gotham that was known for scars on his face. I turn back around but the man was gone. I look around at the flow of people but I didn't see him anywhere.

I mentally slap myself. It couldn't be him. He wouldn't walk around like that. He's not stupid. I turn back around and continue walking to Wayne Enterprises.

"Hey, Lu." I said as I walked into the lab. He turned around and smiled.

"Hey. You ready for work?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. But before we start, there is something I'm wanting to ask you." I stand next to him and lean against the work table.

"Sure, what's up?"

"You know about that new criminal in town? The one that wears that silly clown makeup and has scars on his face?" He looks at me weird.

"Yes of course."

"Well, do you think he ever goes around without his makeup?"

"Ugh, I guess he might. Wait, where is this coming from?" He asked. He looked really worried.

"Well, there was this guy I saw on the way here. He had scars on his face, like the Joker. He was really creepy. Oh I don't know. I'm sure it was nothing." I turned around and pretended to examine a blue print.

"You know there are people that have gotten scars like his. Those that survive an attack by him. You've heard about how he likes to give people scars like his." He sounded really worried now. I shouldn't have brought it up.

"Yeah, your right. It was probably someone else. I mean he wouldn't just walk around like that."

"Well maybe he thinks most people wouldn't be smart enough to put two and two together. But don't worry about it, Kate." Lu smiles and pats my shoulder.

"Oh. Also there is a fundraiser tonight. Mr. Wayne is hosting it for Harvey. He wants you to come so he can discuss some designs with you." I groan. Lu holds his hands up in defense.

"Come on, you know I don't care for parties. And why is Bruce wanting to discuss designs with me at a party?" I ask.

"He figured it would be easier. And it would be the only way he could get you to come, so…"

"Fine. But I don't have anything to wear to a fancy party." Lu smiled and I knew I was in for some trouble.

"I already have that taken care of. Your dress will be delivered by five tonight. And there is a car picking you up at eight-thirty. No way out."

"I hate you. You know how to corner me." He laughed and I couldn't help but smile.

"Time for work. Ok we need to figure out how to reinforce our armor against dogs, while keeping it light weight…." Lu trailed off and I knew it was going to be a long day.

When I got home at four-thirty that night I collapsed on my bed. Me and Lu worked on that armor all day and we came up with about three different solutions. We would probably be working on it for a while. Then I remembered the party. Lucius said the dress would be here about five. I groaned and sat up in my bed. My bed was a full size with various shades of purple and green sheets and pillows. My room was painted a light lavender color. To my left there was an enormous bookcase overflowing with various genres of books. I had a giant butterfly chair sitting next to it with a lamp on the wall. In the corner was the door leading into the hallway.

Directly in front of me was a dresser packed with pajamas and comfy clothes. To my right was my closet and the door leading to my bathroom. I looked beside my bed and saw my iPod on my dresser, along with my alarm clock and a black lamp. I looked at the clock. Four-fifty. I jumped from my bed and walked down the hallway. I came into my spacious living room, and walked to the left into the kitchen.

Opening the fridge I grabbed a piece of cold pepperoni pizza and a Pepsi. I snapped open the Pepsi and took a long swig. Leaning against the counter I finished eating my pizza just as the doorbell rang. I set my Pepsi on the table and rushed to answer the door.

"Mrs. Pierce?" There was a man in his mid-twenties at the door. He had a box balanced in one hand and a clipboard in the other.

"Yes?" He smiled and handed me the box.

"Could you please sign here?" He set the clipboard on top of the box and pointed to a line at the bottom of the page. I signed it and he took it back.

"Thank you. Have a nice evening."

"You too." I walked back in and shut the door. I went back to my room and set the box on my bed. Opening it, I gasped. I pulled it out and held it up. It was a one-shoulder and floor-length. It was black with clear beads threaded through the bodice that started to disperse in the skirt. I knew it probably had to cost a lot. I set it back down and went into my closet and pulled out some black strappy heels. I hated heels but it was the only thing I had that would look good with the dress. I set them in the floor beside the bed.

I had about three hours until the car got here so I sat in my chair and picked up Eragon. I grabbed my iPod and set the alarm for seven-forty.

I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. The dress was gorgeous and fit perfectly. But suddenly I frown. I stared at the only problem. I knew there was nothing I could do about it. At the base of my neck there was a start of a scar. The one-shoulder hid most of it, but it was still visible. It reached from the base of my neck and over my shoulder and down part of my back. I have no problem with scars. It is just that people tend to stare and sometimes ask about it. It kind of makes you uncomfortable. I can hide it most of the time with t-shirts and the such but not tonight.

I pulled on my heels and grabbed a small clutch that came with the dress. I looked out my window and saw a black car waiting at the curb. Five minutes later I climbed into the car and was on my way to the party. It was at Bruce Wayne's penthouse. Soon I started to think about what the designs might be that Lu was telling me about.

"Ma'am? We are here." The driver opened my door and helped me out.

"Go to the top floor." He said kindly and smiled.

"Thank you." I returned his smile and walked into the building. I headed to the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor.

When I walked in I was greeted by a waiter with a platter of champagne. I took a glass and thanked him. The front room was very large. It was filled with people who were all high up on the totem pole and rich. I spotted Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent standing together in the room. When she spotted me I smiled and waved. She smiled and started walking my way.

"Hey, Kate. How have you been?" Rachel asked.

"I've been fine thanks. So where is Bruce? Apparently he has some new design ideas to show me." Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I don't know where he is. You think he would show up to his own party. Come on, I want you to meet Harvey." I followed her over to Harvey.

"Kate, this is Harvey Dent. Harvey, this is Kate Pierce." Rachel introduced us.

"Hi." I smiled and shook his hand.

"Hello. So how do you know each other?" Harvey asked conversationally.

"Well, Bruce actually introduced us." Rachel said.

"Yeah. I had just started working for him and I didn't know many people. So he introduced me to Rachel." I offered.

"Yes, and we've been good friends ever since." Suddenly there was the sound of a helicopter. Outside a helicopter was landing. Bruce Wayne stepped out with three pretty girls in tow. He delivered a enlightening speech on how he believed Harvey Dent was right for Gotham, after which everyone applauded. I looked at Rachel, who seemed pissed off.

"Excuse me." She said to both me and Harvey. I watched her leave and sighed. Now I was stuck with the politician.

"Oh, great. Now what do I do." I muttered under my breath. Harvey looked uncomfortable.

"Um. So I would rather talk to you then these other bigwigs." Harvey said.

"Well gee. Thanks for having me as your second choice." I laughed. Harvey's eyes widened.

"Oh, no. I didn't mean it that way. I mean these other people kind of scare me." I laughed more and he smiled.

"So, you aren't afraid to be shot at, but you are afraid of a bunch of rich people. Interesting. I'm completely with you on that one." He laughed this time. I looked out at the balcony Rachel went out. She was coming back in and heading this way. I figured I better give her and Harvey some time.

"Excuse me. I'll see you around." I walked away to a corner of the room and sipped my champagne.

"Kate?" I turned around to find Bruce. I smiled.

"Hey. What's up? Lu told me you wanted to go over some designs." I said.

"Yes, follow me. I have them in my office." I followed him through a few hallways and into a decent sized office space. He walked over to his desk and grabbed a portfolio, when his phone rang.

"Sorry, give me just a sec." He started to talk into his phone, and I turned away. I set my clutch down on his desk and looked around the room. I heard his phone snap shut.

"Kate. I need you to go back out there and stay close to a group. Don't draw attention to yourself." Bruce looked very serious.

"What's going on? Is everything ok?" I asked.

"Please Kate. Go. Don't draw attention to yourself." He disappeared. I rushed back out into the main room. There was a small crowd of people in the corner of the room and I hurried toward them. I was on the outskirts of the group when I heard a gun shot.

"Good evening, ladies and gentle-_men_. We are…tonight's entertainment." I turned around to face the center of the room to find the Joker. He was walking around with a gun in his hand.

"I only have one question. Where is Harvey Dent?" When no one answered him he pointed the barrel of the gun at a few girls before grabbing a glass of champagne, sloshing the majority of it out on the floor. Then he went back to asking where Harvey was, if they knew who he was.

"We are not intimidated by thugs." Joker was standing in front of an old man, who stood up to him.

"You know. You remind me of my father," The Joker was talking now, "I _hated_ my father." He grabs the old man at the back of his neck and holds a switchblade to his cheek. Screw drawing attention to myself.

"He's not here." I say while stepping forward from the group. Joker looks at me and I can see recognition flash through his eyes.

"Well, hello beautiful." Joker says as he starts to slink over to me. I do my best to stand tall and seem unafraid, even though my heart was trying to hammer its way out of my chest.

"And where _exactly_ is Harvey uh." He stops to stand in front of me. His tongue snakes out and plays at his scars.

"I don't know. But he had to leave early." He stares long and hard at me. With him being this close I can see his scars very well. I can tell that he is the same man I saw this morning even though I really didn't see him well.

"You know, I think your _lying_." He growls. He grabs behind my neck and brings his switchblade to my face. I feel the cold metal press against my cheek. I grab at his wrists but he only tightens his grip.

"You want to know how I got theses scars?" He asks.

"No, not really." I say before he can get into the background of his wounds. He frowns and I feel him press the knife harder into my skin. I feel something start to roll down my chin as I feel stinging pain.

"Would you like some scars like mine? I think they would look _goood_ on you." Joker whispers dangerously. I try to pull my head back a little but he has a lock on me.

I whisper real low, so only he can hear, "No thanks. I already have some scars of my own. But thank you for the offer." He looks taken aback. He cocks his head to the side and his tongue darts back out at his wounds.

"Ok, stop." I hear a familiar voice say. I try to turn my head to see who it is, but quickly stop as his knife digs into my cheek more. Joker looks back at me for a moment before sighing and throwing me backward. He points to someone behind me and hands grab my elbows and pull my arms back.

I can finally see who stood up for me. It was Rachel.

"Rachel no." I say as I try to break away from the hands holding me, but only get a gun pointed at me by another clown thug. Joker turns back around and looks at me.

"I'll get back to _you_ in a moment." He says. He turns back to Rachel.

"Well, this party is just _full _of beautiful women. You must be Harvey's _squeeze_ uh." He says as he continues walking over to her.

"And you are beautiful." He starts to circle around her.

"Oh, you look nervous. Is it the scars? You wanna know how I got 'em?" He asks. "Come here." He grabs at her face and brings the switchblade up. She tries to pull away but can't.

"Hey, look at me…So I had a wife who was _beautiful_, like you. Who tells me…I worry too much. Who tells me I oughta _smile_ more. Who gambles and gets in deep with the sharks." Rachel keeps turning her head, trying to pull away. I yank and pull at the guy holding me, but the one with the gun just presses it into my abdomen.

"Hey. So one day they carve her face. We don't have any money for surgeries. She can't take it. I just want to see her smile again, hmm? I just wanna let her know I don't _care about the scars_ . So, I stick a razor in my mouth and do this to myself," he moves his face side to side, "And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side. Now I'm always smiling!" He sweeps his arms up dramatically. Rachel takes this moment to knee him.

"Oh, there's a little fight in you. I like that." He says as he straightens back up.

"Then your going to love me." There was a gruff voice as Batman appears next to Joker and punches him. I had never seen Batman up close. Now I could see something very familiar on his armor. The clown holding me drops me and runs to his bosses aide. I scramble up and rush over to Rachel. I grab her and pull her toward the side of the room as we watch Batman, Joker, and various clown thugs fight.

"Are you ok?" I ask her. She nods but then frowns.

"Oh my God. Are you ok?" She sees the gash on my cheek and I reach up to touch it. My hand comes away red.

"I'm fine. That was stupid." I say. We back up as the fight comes our way. We watch as Joker throws one of his clowns at Batman. The clown jumps on him as Joker starts to kick him, laughing. Batman pushes Joker away and he falls to the floor. He scrambles to the side and grabs a gun on the floor. He runs to us and grabs Rachel.

"No!" I yell as he backs up to the window behind them with the gun pointed to her head. Batman turns toward the Joker.

"Drop the gun." He says.

"Sure. You just take off your little mask and show us all who you _really_ are. Hmm?" He laughs and shoots the window out behind them. Turning around he holds Rachel out the window.

"Let her go." I look at Batman in horror as I realize his mistake.

"Hmm, very poor choice of words." Joker laughs as he lets Rachel go.

"Rachel!" I yell as Batman rushes out the window after her. I run toward the window, not even thinking about what I was doing. The Joker grabs me and holds me around my shoulders.

"No, no, no. Don't want you going over now do we?" He points the gun at my head and turns to face the crowd.

"If anybody moves ah, or calls the po-_lice_, this room will get a new paint job." He threatened as he moved us toward the elevator, kicking his clowns awake as he went. I dug my feet into the floor trying to slow him down. He sighs and yanks me off balance, to where my feet drag. He walks into the back of the elevator, and when all of his conscious clown thugs pilled in he clicked the lobby button and the doors closed.

He still held on to me tightly but had lowered the gun somewhat. Soon he starts to hum some sort of tune. I grunted and tried to pull away but he held fast. I was waiting for him to shoot me but he hadn't yet.

"Well?" I asked.

"Well _what uh_?" He looked down at me annoyed and I did my best to turn my head to look up at him.

"Aren't you going to shoot me? Or are you going to wait until you get outside?" I asked. He looked at me like I was the crazy one wearing clown makeup.

"Why would I _shoot_ you?" He asked, a genuinely puzzled look on his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You like knives don't you? Ok, when are you going to stab me or cut up my face again?" I did my best to put on a serious face. His grip was getting rather painful.

"Why are you so sure that I'm going to, uh, kill ya?" He asked, waving the gun around.

"Oh, just that your hostages usually don't last more than twenty-four hours." I shrugged my shoulders. Suddenly he starts breaking out in manic laughter. His grip doesn't loosen so I end up getting shook around with him. Some of his clown thugs start to chuckle nervously. Joker stops laughing and looks at his henchmen.

"When did I say you could laugh uh?" He asks. All of the clowns freeze and start to fidget. He raises his gun and shoots one of the clowns, who falls to the floor with a thud. I look at the body shocked. He just shot his own guy.

Suddenly the elevator does a cheery ding and the doors open leading into the lobby. The clowns walk out and hold their guns up at the surprised people. Joker walks out dragging me with him. I do my best to kick and squirm around.

"You just enjoy being complicating, don't you?" He huffs. He lets go for a split second and grabs my waist in one arm. Bending down he grunts and throws me over his shoulder. I gasp.

"What? Let me go!" I yell at him as he starts to skip through the lobby, me bouncing painfully on his shoulder. I look at the people around me who are frozen in fear. I hear a gun go of and some dull thuds. Joker stops dead.

"Well, if you insist." I realize my mistake too late as he lets me go and I fall to the floor painfully.

"Owww. You ass." I groan.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such language." He bends down and picks me back up. He starts to skip again and hum to some tune. I grip the back of his jacket to hold on. When he gets outside, I hear a vehicle coming down the road that stops in front of us. Joker walks over and opens the back door, tossing me inside. He climbs in after me, followed by his clowns. I scramble up from the floor and sit on the bench. I glare at Joker, who just sits beside me and smiles.

"You didn't answer my question." I tell him.

"I didn't, did I?" He asks innocently.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?"

"Well, aren't we eager? I'm not going to kill you yet, darlin'. No, no, no, you are just _too much fun_ ah." He grins mischievously, licking his scars, and starts to laugh again. He laughs so hard he starts to bounce up and down in his seat.

After he calms down he pulls his switchblade out. He clicks it open and plays around with it. He looks back up at me. In the blink of an eye, he has my face back in his hands. He puts the knife back up to my cheek.

"You said you had some _scars_. Where are they?" He asks, his voice low and menacing. When I don't answer he sighs and lays the knife against my already injured cheek. I grimace as he presses the blade against it.

"If you don't tell me, uh, I'll just have to look myself." He smacks his lips at the end of his sentence. I look down over at my right shoulder, where the one-shoulder covered up the majority of it. Though you can see the start of it. He follows my line of sight and smiles. He licks his lips.

He removes the knife from my face and uses it to push back the fabric. He cocks his head at the sight of the knife wound. It was puckered and it hadn't quite healed right.

"How far does it go?" He asks.

"Down part of my back." I whisper. I feel him tug at the fabric with his knife. I hear the fabric tear and it fell loose. It was good that the dress was tight around my chest. I shuddered as he traced the scar with his knife. Suddenly, I start to feel angry. And I lash out at the closest thing. Joker.

I yank away from him and punch him right in the face. There was a look of shock, before it was replaced with anger. He drew his hand back and slapped me hard across my injured cheek. I felt fresh blood start to flow down my chin. That only made me angrier. But when I saw blood flowing from his nose, I calmed a bit. The blood mixed with his red makeup. Then he started to laugh again. He put his knife back in his jacket pocket.

"You've got _a lot_ of fight in you." He popped the t at the end of fight. "I like that, I like it, _I like it_. You are going to be _real_ fun." He giggled.

"Boss, we're almost there." The goon that was driving said. Joker looked at him then sighed. He turned back to me. I watched as he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a rag. He reached forward and grabbed the back of my head. He pressed the rag up to my face and I panicked when I smelt chloroform on it.

I bucked and kicked at him. I tried holding my breath for a while. Eventually he got frustrated.

"What are you doing? Holding your breath? Just calm _down_ uh. When you wake up, this would have been all a bad _dream_." He chuckled at the end. Finally I couldn't hold my breath anymore and sucked in deep, which I soon regretted doing, because my head swam painfully. I tried to push him off me again but I was too weak. My vision started to blur. The last thing I heard and saw was Joker, his maniacal laughter ringing in my ears and his painted face lingering even after I closed my eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ok so thanks sooo much for reviews. They make me feel so nice.J Anyways, I hope you guys continue to review and all that. You know, it's weird seeing your own fanfic in the group. Oh, if you think Joker starts to become OOC, just send me a review slap. Like (slaps JokerKid988) something like that. But let it be known that I am trying to show his human side, even if it is buried twenty layers deep. But that'll probably be later chapters. And my character is NOT a Mary Sue, it was just a adrenaline thing. I hope over time my writing skills improve. And I know my action scenes not the best but… yeah. Thank you for reading! Special thanks to Mrs. POTO, Blueberrytoast, and Rorschach in Blue Jeans for reviewing!

I woke up slowly. I was laying on a bed, which I desperately hoped was in my own room. My vision was blurry for a bit before it started to clear. I saw lavender walls, and purple and green sheets. Thank God. It probably was some messed up dream. What happened after the party? I tried but I couldn't remember.

I sat up and looked around my room. Everything looked fine. I turned to my nightstand to see what time it was. And I froze. There sitting on the edge of the table, was a playing card. A joker to be exact. And on the card, it had a message: See you soon. I looked down at myself and saw I was still wearing my dress, but my heels had been taken off. I sat there for fifteen minutes, though it felt like an hour.

Lu. He most be worried sick. I shook myself out of my stupor and ran to my house phone. My cell was in my clutch that I left at Bruce's penthouse. I picked the phone up and dialed Lu's number. It rang twice before he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Lu? It's me Kate." There was a moment of silence before he spoke again.

"Kate, are you ok? Where are you? Is he listening?" His voice was low and urgent.

"I'm fine. I'm at my apartment. And as far as I know he is not listening, because he's not here." I said.

"When Bruce told me what happened, I thought you were dead. I'm coming over right now. No excuses." He said quickly. At the mention of Bruce, I remembered everything that happened at the party. And there was something that I saw on Batman.

"Fine. There is something I want to talk to you about. And eventually talk to Bruce about."

"Ok, I'm on my way." Lu said before the call was ended. I set the phone back on the receiver before walking back to my room. I stare warily at the joker card before heading into my bathroom.

I stand in front of the mirror, fearing the worse. I look up and gasp. On my left cheek was a small gash. There was also a nasty bruise surrounding it. Dried blood covered my cheek and chin. I reach up and touch the bruise lightly, and hiss when it hurts. I decided that maybe if the dried blood was gone, it wouldn't look quite as bad.

I lifted my arm to my nose and frowned when all I smelt was the Joker on me. He smelled like gasoline and gunpowder. Stripping of my dress, I stepped into the shower and scrubbed my hair and skin until there was no trace of him on me. When I started to clean my face, I was careful not to put too much pressure on my cheek.

I stepped out and dried off. I looked back in the mirror and was glad to see that it did look a little better without the blood. I found the cut was more like a scratch. It would be fine. I went into my room and pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

I looked at the dress Lu had gotten me. There was blood on it, and the shoulder strap was cut. I shuddered when I remembered Joker tracing my scar with his knife. I looked back at the card on my nightstand before walking out into my living room. I hear a knock and walk over to the door. Looking through the peephole, I find Lu with a worried look, and to my surprise, Bruce. I opened the door.

"Hey guys. Come on in." I say, trying my best to turn my left cheek away from them. They step in and immediately Lu takes me in a bear hug. I smile and pull back. Then they both frown when they see my cheek.

"Oh, God. Did he do that to you?" Lu asks. I nod and turn to walk into my kitchen. They quickly follow.

"What happened to 'Don't draw attention to yourself'?" Bruce asks, trying his best to make it sound light. He handed me something that was in his hand. I hadn't even noticed it before. It was my clutch. I took it and thanked him.

"He was threatening an old man. What was I supposed to do, sit back and watch?" I asked. Then I gasped as I remembered Rachel.

"Oh, my God. What about Rachel? Is she ok?" Bruce nodded.

"She is ok. Batman was able to save her. What happened after he took you?" Bruce asks, as we all sit down at the table.

"Not a whole lot. He dragged me out to a van. He talked about how he wasn't going to kill me just yet. That I was just too much fun. And he drugged me. Next thing I know I woke up in my bed." I said. "Oh, and he left his card." I added. Bruce looked up.

"Where is it?"

"It's in my room, on my nightstand." He jumps up and runs to my room. A moment later, he returns with the card in his hand. He was looking down studying it.

"Kate, I want you to come and stay with me. Joker knows where you live and he is obviously not going to back off." Bruce says. I sit stunned for a second.

"No, that's not necessary. I'll be fine. Besides, Joker wants to terrorize all of Gotham. What would he want with one girl?" I say.

"Please Kate, at least think about it." Bruce says. He wraps the card up in a napkin and sets it in his pocket.

"I'll think about it." I give in, though I know I'm not going to stay with him.

"There is something I want to talk to you two about." I turn on them and put a angry look on my face. They both look at each other.

"I can't believe you guys didn't trust me. I mean, did you think you could keep it a secret forever?" I huffed and watched them both act like they didn't know what I was talking about.

"Last night was the first time I saw Batman up close." I make a point to look at Bruce. "And there was something eerily familiar about his armor. Any comments?" I looked between the two of them. They remain quite.

"Why didn't you tell me you're Batman you jerk!" I snap at Bruce. "It hurts that you guys didn't trust me."

"If you knew, it would have put you in danger." Bruce said logically.

"If you haven't already noticed, I am in danger!" I yell.

"How did you figure it out?" Lucius asked.

"His armor. I remember working on it with you. And the piece we were working on yesterday was the same as on his armor." I say. They both nod and stay quite for a while.

"Kate, you should take a break from work. Maybe calm down and figure out what you plan on doing. Nothing drastic I hope." Lu said, breaking the silence.

"Maybe. But, I don't want to stay here all the time, just waiting for him to break in and kill me. I don't know. Just give me a while to think." I say.

After about an hour more of trying to comfort me and convince me to stay with either one of them, Lu and Bruce decided to leave.

"Don't hesitate to call either one of us, Kate. We'll keep a watch out as well." Bruce said. I nod and close the door after them. Sighing I went to my room. It was five pm. That damn chloroform kept me out until three-thirty today. And Joker had took the liberty of turning my alarm clock off. How nice.

Collapsing on my bed, I tried to think of how I got myself screwed up in this crap. Was it because I saw him on the street. I mean, I just guessed if that was him, I didn't really know. Maybe it was because I stood up to him at Bruce's party? Maybe it because he wants someone new to torment? Who knew with someone like him.

Then I remembered Rachel again. I was so caught up in my own self-pity, I hadn't called her. I picked up my phone and dialed her number. After three rings she picked it up.

"Oh, Kate are you ok? I was so worried about you. Where are you?" She asked without a breath.

"I'm fine Rachel. I'm at my apartment. Are you ok? When you went out the window I was so afraid you weren't going to make it."

"I'm ok. What happened after I fell?" I told her the same thing I had told Lu and Bruce.

"I'm coming over. I need to be there for you."

"No, Rachel it's ok. I'm tired and I don't want you getting even more caught up in this then what you probably already are. I just wanted to call to see if you were ok." There was a silence before she answered.

"Ok. Just be careful Kate."

"Thanks." I hung up.

I decided to get in my pjs, first picking up some purple and green shorts and tank before frowning and throwing them in a corner. I decided to go with black shorts and an oversized white t-shirt. I jumped into my chair and picked up the Eragon book balancing on the edge of the bookshelf. I began reading and soon my head started to droop. Finally, my eyes closed and the book fell to the floor with a _thud._

"_Well, hello again _dollface. _Did ya miss me?" It was Joker. He loomed over me and smiled. He looked down at the book on the floor and bent to pick it up._

"_Hmm, good book." He mumbled before setting it on the bookcase. _

"_What are you doing here? How did you get in?" I yell. I try to get up from my chair, but he quickly pushes me back down._

"_I'm here because I, uh, wasn't done with you. And to _how _I got in here, well you don't seem to bother locking your win-_dows_." He pointed over to the open window. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his knife. I panic and try to kick him away, but he seems almost oblivious to the feeble attempts. He puts on a sad face._

"_Oh, why so _serious, _dollface? Let's put a smile on that face!" He smiles again and puts the knife to my cheek, laughing like he enjoys seeing my fear._

I gasp loudly as I shake awake. I look around my room and relax when I don't see Joker. I look down at the floor and groan when I see my book was closed, my place lost. I pick it up and set it on the bookcase.

I stand from my chair and walk into my bathroom. Turning on the sink I splash cold water on my face and the back of my neck. Looking up in the mirror, I see purple circles under my eyes. Great, now I'm going to start losing sleep over it all.

Walking back into my room I see it's nine 'o'clock. I decide I'm still exhausted and climb into bed. I pull the sheets up to my chin and turn the light out. I close my eyes and hope for a dreamless sleep.

It had been a week since Bruce's party. The Joker hadn't come and killed me during my sleep, so I assumed he forgot about me. Though I knew he wasn't bored with terrorizing Gotham. He had made an ultimatum. Everyday someone would die, until Batman showed his true identity. Of course, he had made that announcement before the fundraiser. So about seven people had died.

It was currently eight pm. I was bored all day, and had decided that I would go to work tomorrow. Laying in bed, I was reading Eldest, the second book in the Inheritance Cycle. The only source of light in my apartment at the moment was the lamp that was on my nightstand. I snuggled up in my comforter, blocking out the cool air.

_Crack!_

I jumped in my bed as I heard a crash coming from the kitchen. I stared at my bedroom door. The hairs on the back of my neck were on end. Carefully, I set the book down and climbed out of the bed.

My heart beat was erratic as I walked into the hallway. It was dark. I strained my eyes to try to see some sort of movement, but couldn't detect anything. I made my way down the hall slowly, my ears perked for the slightest noise. When I reached the end, I paused again and listened and looked for anything.

I walked into the living room and then the kitchen. I fumbled along the wall, trying to find the light switch. I was almost afraid to turn the light on. What if Joker was here? I slapped myself mentally and braved up when my hand connected with the light switch. Flipping it on, I braced myself for the worst. And I almost found it.

On the table, were my kitchen knives. All lined up from smallest to largest. I couldn't breath as my feet moved of their own accord towards the table. I reached out and touched the closest knife, hoping it was just another nightmare. It wasn't. I stood there, practically choking on fear. And anger. He was in my apartment, and going through my things. He was trying to scare me, to play mind games on me. Try to make me go crazy, just like him.

But it wouldn't work. Not yet, anyway. I looked at the knife at the end of the line. The biggest one I had. I picked it up and decided to taunt him.

"Having fun with my utensils, I see. Though I really didn't need them lined up like this." I said, my eyes searching the room. I searched the entire apartment, but didn't find any trace of him. When I was sure he was probably gone, I went back to the kitchen. I put my knives back in their draws, except for the largest one.

Walking back to my room I held the knife in my hand, as if it were my only lifeline. I decided against calling Lu or Bruce, knowing they would do something stupid. I climbed into my bed and leaned against the headboard. I kept my eyes on all of the doors in my room, and after that nightmare, the window. I knew he probably was laughing, enjoying watching me squirm. Eventually I laid down. I kept the light on, the knife set on my nightstand.

_Beep…beep…beep…_

I decided to go back to work. I decided against calling Lu. He would just try to convince me to stay home. So I got up and got ready. I wasn't going to let last night's events affect today. I showered and got dressed.

And five minutes after brushing my teeth, I was walking out of my apartment building. I looked down at my iPod and changed my mind about listening to music today. Instead, I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets. It was cold today, pretty much like any other day in Gotham.

I had walked half a block when I got an uneasy feeling. Like the feeling of when you think someone is following you. I look over my shoulder for a second and saw a man. He was staring right at me, with his hands in his pockets as well. I turn back around and slightly quicken my pace.

About a block later, he was still following me, but now he had two friends. One was on the opposite street, eyes trained on me until I looked at him. The third a step behind the first man I saw. I was starting to get worried. I decided to wait another half block until I do anything drastic.

And of course they were still following me. That was it. I looked down at my left pocket, where my cell phone was tucked. I casually picked it out and dialed Lu.

"Kate, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing much, Lu." I said before dropping my voice lower. "Listen, I've got about three guys, possibly more, on my tail. They've followed me a while." There was a pause.

"Ok, I'm putting a track on your phone. Give me a sec." I fidgeted and looked behind me again before Lu came back on.

"Is he there?" He meant the Joker.

"No, I don't think so. None of them have scars." I say.

"So what are you going to do? I'm calling our friend, feed him your location. Hopefully he can help." I knew 'our friend' meant Bruce.

"I think I'm going to start running here in a sec. My best bet is to run to the nearest hospital, or to Wayne Enterprises. Which is closer?"

"Um, Gotham General. But it's still real far away." I swallow hard.

"I'll be ok. I'll get off now. As soon as I do I'm going to start running. It'll confirm if they are following me. I'll try not to lose my phone. Bye, Lu." I said. I was well aware of the fact this could be the last time I got to talk to Lu. Apparently he was too.

"Bye, Kate. Good Luck." I hung up and stuck the phone back in my pocket.

My heart was beating crazily. I rolled my shoulders and took a deep breath, looking behind me once more. Then I ran.

I immediately hear three pairs of feet pounding behind me. I look around and see my suspicions were correct. All three men were running after me, the one across the street on a cell phone. I turn back around and run faster than I ever have before.

Apologies fly from my mouth as I knock people down, some choice words emitted my way. Most people move out of the way on time. By the time I'm a block and a half from where I started running, my heart was haywire and my breath erratic. I only hoped that Bruce could find me soon, but deep down I knew I probably wasn't going to make it.

In front of me was a street, the cars not stopped. And that was the way I needed to go. I look behind me. Two new guys joined the hunt. Now there was a total of five men after me. I am so screwed. Turning back around to face front, I make my decision. And it was stupid.

I run right into the moving traffic. Immediately horns blare at me and voices shout. A taxi nearly hits me. When I've just about reached the end, a black van comes hurtling my way. And it wasn't slowing down. I could tell I was going to hit it. But I couldn't slow down. The men were already making their way into the traffic. So I did the only thing I could think to do. I jumped.

I jumped up just as the van was no more than a foot from me. I landed with a painful thud on the hood as the brakes screech. On my right hip, I slide along the hood. The expression on my face, I'm sure, was probably hilarious. I kind of wished I could see it. I dropped off of the hood on the other end and land in a heap on the ground. I quickly dig the balls of my feet in the ground and pull myself up, running full throttle.

I glimpse behind me and find, to my utter horror, the first man I saw bang on the hood with his fist. He looked at the driver and shouted something I couldn't hear, then pointed to me. The van peeled out and started in my direction.

By now, I was practically running on adrenaline fumes. My calves burned and screamed at me to stop, while my brain yelled run and never stop. My heart felt like it would give out at any second.

The van is right beside me on the street now. I look at the driver and see a man in a clown mask. He looked at me before focusing back on the road. Several vehicles honked at him. He hit most of them. It made me feel awful, knowing I was causing this. If I gave up, maybe there wouldn't so much destruction. I quickly shake myself out of that thought. No, I couldn't give up. Not now.

I round a corner and hit a man with a handful of boxes. He yelled a stream of curse words at me before he was nearly trampled by the following guys. I look around, trying to find any street signs. I spot one. Berry Drive. I was still no less than four blocks away. I started chanting: I'm going to make it. I'm going to make it.

I look back at the van and immediately start changing what I was chanting. I'm not going to make it.! Holy crap, I am so not going to make it! He had a gun and rolled the window down. He started shooting and screams were heard. Everyone scrabbled for safety while I ran. It made running through the crowds easier, but that meant it was easier for those guys too. And I was an easier target. But the shooting stopped when someone from the back smacked the driver's head. He shrugged and dropped the gun, much to my relief.

My relief was short lived. I wasn't watching where I was going. When I turned around it was a second too late. I man loomed at the corner of the street. And it was a man with a purple suit and clown makeup. I try to stop, but my feet give out from under me. I skid along the pavement, feeling a sharp pain on my left calf.

"Well, _hello there, doll-_face. Fancy seeing _you_ here." He said, a fake look of surprise on his face. I scramble backwards, only to land at some guys feet. They five men had caught up. I looked around. Everyone had ran away. The van and the guys caught up. Now there was the Joker.

"Come on! I was so close." I joked. I wasn't going to go easy with this weirdo.

"_Not _that close, darlin'. Well, we better get going." He said cheerily. The goons behind me lifted me up. One reached into my pocket and grabbed my cell phone. He threw it to the ground and it broke. I stared at it. That was my only chance.

"Ata, ta, ta. I can handle her boys." He said. They tossed me to him. The moment weight was put on my left leg, I collapsed. I would have hit the ground if Joker hadn't grabbed me.

"Tsk, tsk. Look at what you've done to yourself. Scarped your, uh, leg open. Well we'll just have to take care of that when we get home." He smiled as his tongue played at his scars and he sucked on his cheek. I looked down and saw a bloodied pant leg. He hauled me up to my full height, and put one arm around my waist. With the other, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun.

He walked to the front of the van and tapped on the passenger side window with the gun. The driver rolled it down.

"Huh. I, uh, faintly remember giving specific orders _not_ to shoot at our little guest." I yank at his arm and scratch at his skin underneath. He tightened his grip and looked down at me.

"Shh, shhh. I'm trying to have a con-ver-_sation_ here, angelface." He looked back at the driver, who was fidgeting in his seat.

"'M sorry Boss. I was just trying to make it easier so Johnny and 'em could get to her." He said. Joker nods his head.

"Oh ok. Well, uh, I'm wanting to drive now so…" Joker aimed the gun and fired it, shooting the driver in the heart. I gaped at the body as Joker pushed me into the passenger seat. He walked around the front of the van and opened the door.

"Excuse me." He said as he pulled on the body, letting it fall to the ground with a dull thud. The goons all pilled up in the back. I could hear police sirens starting in the distance.

"Oh, uh, don't want you to see where we're _going_, sooo.." He looked at me and took out a cloth from his pocket.

"Ha, no. No more chloroform!" I yell as I try to open the door. He laughs.

"No, no, it's not chloroform. Just going to _blind_fold ya." H reaches for me. I try to pull away but he growls and grabs my shirt. He ties it over my eyes, so I can't see anything.

"And, uh, what _exactly_ is going to stop me from taking this _off_?" I ask, mocking him and enjoying every second of it.

"Well, you'll probably want to hold on. _I drive fast._ But, uh, do want to buckle you up." I feel him lean over me and grab the seat belt. I yelp as he intentionally grabs my thigh. I hear him start to giggle, and I lash out. I punch in his general direction, only earning full blown laughter when I miss. The van shoots forward, and I lurch with the movement, nearly hitting my head on the dash.

"Told ya to _hang on._" Joker said.

I soon learned I was glad to be blindfolded. Horns honked and there was a lot a banging as he hit cars and various other items. My hands clung to the bottom edges of my seat, trying to hold on. Suddenly, he turned a sharp right and I fell from my seat.

"Damn good seat belts." I mumbled, because my mouth was currently pressed against something. I reached a hand up and felt around my head. It landed on something soft.

"Oh, now, now, anfelface. We _hardly_ know each other enough for _that_." Joker said. I lifted my head from its rest and looked to where his voice was.

"What?" I ask. He laughs.

"Well, _considering_ your head and hand is setting on, uh, my _thigh._" He drawls out. I yelp and immediately move myself away from him.

"Huh, that's what happens when you _blindfold me_!" I yell.

"Hmmm. I'll have to do that more often." He giggles. I pull a face and climb back up into my seat.

"Ok! Where's your freaking neck! I'm am so going to strangle you!" I flail my arms in his direction.

"Hey, I'm trying to _drive_ here!" He smacks my hands away. I hear a crash and the van jolts around. Joker laughs hysterically and I can hear him banging on the steering wheel.

There's another turn, this time to the left. I was unprepared and ended up smashing my head on the window.

"Owww. Can you drive any _worse_?" I ask, rubbing my head.

"I don't know. Do ya really want to find out?" He asks. After that I decided to keep quite. Instead, I focused on hanging on to the seat. I wasn't sure how long I had been in the van. But after a while, his driving got a bit better. Maybe that meant we were where there weren't many other vehicles. The van starts to slow down….


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Ok, I am slowly running out of material so updates will probably become farther apart. I don't really think these ahead all that much. I usually randomly think of big stuff or various conflicts beforehand, then add on the other stuff in while I'm typing. I am totally open for suggestions from you guys. If there is something specific that you guys might want to see in this story, just put it in the reviews or pm me. Please excuse my grammatical errors. Thanks for the reviews and favs and follows. They make me feel all fuzzy inside. And I might start putting conflict in the A/N. Just for fun. When I'm bored and can't think of anything for the story. And I'm thinking about starting another fic, to get rid of some of the ideas I have that I can't use in this story. And I just keep going here. R&R!

"Ahh, home, sweet home." He says. I reach up to try and take the blindfold off.

"No, no, no. Don't want you seeing where we're at." He holds my hands together. I hear the driver door open and I get hauled over the seat. I land on the ground painfully, with Joker still holding my hands together. He lifts me up to where my feet don't touch the ground, and one arm is around my waist to hold me up.

I scramble with my hands and end up latching one arm around his neck, while the other pulls at the arm around my waist. I reach up with the arm around his neck and grab a handful of his greasy hair. And I yank on it.

"OW! Hey, let go! Release, release!" He starts to yell. The one arm lets go of my waist and I let go of his hair. My feet land on the ground, but quickly buckle when my injured leg can't take the weight. I end up laying on my back. I put my arms behind my head and enjoy listening to his angry growls and stomping around. Oh I pissed him off big-time. I was still blindfolded when I felt a pressure land on my stomach.

"Ugh. Ok. That's uncomfortable." I squirm underneath the weight. My hands fly to the thing and wrap around an ankle. Joker had his boot on my stomach. And it hurt.

"You are _really _starting to _piss me off!_ And you don't want to do _that_." He put more weight on my stomach and I grimace. Suddenly the weight is gone and I feel him grab a fistful of my short hair. I wrap both hands around his wrist and arm, trying to take some pressure off my scalp. He starts to drag me.

"Ow. Ok, this is how I see it. Ow." My back scrapes along pavement. "You piss me off, and I do something to piss you off in return. Then you piss me off again. And I piss you of again. Ow. See the pattern? Ow." I smile despite the pain. I was probably pissing him off more. I know it was stupid but it was just so much fun.

I hear doors open and I jump slightly when my back passes over a bump. Probably from going inside somewhere. I hear him mumble something to his men. He drags me a second longer before pulling me up and tossing me on something cushy.

"Did ya take a souvenir? Geez." I rub my scalp. He bends over and yanks the cloth off my eyes. I cringe as I can see light again. I was in a big room. Like it was a warehouse. I was sitting on an old couch with stuffing sticking out of it. There was TV in the middle of the room, with various chairs and loveseats surrounding it.

"Stay." He says pointing at me, his voice daring me to do anything else. He disappears through a door on the side of the room.

I look around and try to find an exit. I wasn't going to try to run. They would catch me before I even reached one of these doors. And my leg hurt like hell now. Behind me there were two large doors. Probably where we just came through. On the left corner of the room was a metal staircase leading to the second floor, where there were various doors.

The door Joker had disappeared through banged open. He was standing there with an angry look. When he saw me there he calmed a bit. He had probably expected me to be gone. In his hand was a large white box.

"Huh. I thought you would have made a run for it. _Smart_ you didn't. My men would have shot you." He said as he walked over to the couch. He jumped to my left and landed on the seat, almost sending me to the floor. I glared at him.

"Well, I couldn't really, now could I." I said glancing at my bloody pant leg. He looked at it too.

"Lets see if we can't fix it up." He opened the box, which I found, was a medical kit. He set it beside him and pulled my leg up, setting it on his lap. I hissed. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his knife, which I had come to assume was his favorite. I tensed slightly at the sight of it. He clicked the switchblade open and took a hold of my pant leg. In one swift movement, he cut the fabric from the hem to a bit above my knee.

"I'm glad these are cheap jeans." I mutter. He looks up for a second before rummaging through the medical kit. Now that I could see my leg better, I had scraped it pretty bad. Along the side of my left calf, skin was peeled off, and it was smeared in blood. I gulped at the sight of it. I'm not really squeamish around blood or anything, but it looked nasty.

Joker takes out a bottle of some liquid and some gauze. He unscrews the bottle and watches my reaction as he pours some of the contents on my leg. I gasp and grit my teeth closed to stifle the scream that was threatening to come out. I screw my eyes closed and put my hands over my mouth. To stop from screaming, I giggled into my hand. After the burning pain stopped I moved my hands from my mouth.

"Fuck! Jerk!" I smack his shoulder and he started to laugh. He dries the wound with the gauze and pulls out some bandages. He wraps my leg up and then closes the kit. Leaning back he inspects his handiwork.

"There, all _better_." He says. I pull my leg off of his lap and crawl to the opposite side of the couch. He licks his scars again, before acting as if he remembered something. He turns around and opens the med kit again. I hear a rattle and he turns back around.

"I'm surprised my men haven't found _these_ yet." He pops two pills into his gloved hand and offers them to me.

"Take these." He says. I look at the pills warily.

"Why should I trust you?" I ask. He shrugs.

"You _shouldn't_." I look at the pills, then his face. He had one eyebrow raised and was watching me expectantly. I hold my hand out and he smiles as he drops the pills into my hand. I pop them into my mouth and swallow them.

I watch as he licks his scars yet again. I was curious about them. I wanted to know how he really got them. I knew that story he pulled at the fundraiser was probably fake. But I wasn't going to ask. He caught me staring at them.

"You ready to know how I got 'em?" He asks. I calmly shake my head.

"No. But I do want to know if that paint tastes bad when you lick it." I smile sweetly and wait for a response. He seems to sit and think for a second before smiling wryly.

"Tastes like cherry. You wanna _try_?" He looks at me, one eyebrow raised again. I gag and turn away.

I decide to test my leg and swing it off the couch. I stand, using my right leg to haul me up. I carefully put weight on my left leg and quickly collapse. I grab at the armrest and miss. I land on my left side, with my hand clutching my calf. I roll to my back to find Joker standing above me.

"Huh, are you done with your _little experiment_?" He asks. I act like I was thinking for a moment before nodding my head yes. He bends down and grabs my elbow, yanking me up and onto the couch. He sits back down beside me, laying his arms on the back. I sit with my legs tucked up to my chin and stare at him.

He just looks forward. After about five minutes, he turns to stare back at me.

"WHAT?" He yells all of a sudden, making me jump. He laughs at my reaction and slaps his hand on his knee.

"Tell me, what exactly have I done to be graced with _The Joker's_ attention." I ask, dramatically sweeping my arms up as I said his name.

"Because, _doll face_, you looked at me on the street. You _knew_ it was me. And it seems that you have some, ah, friends in high up places. Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox, among possible others. And you just seem _so inte-rest-ing_." He says. I scoff.

"Ok, first of all I don't know who or _what _I saw that day. I thought I saw some crazy psychopath with scars on his face, just without his makeup!" I yelled at him before his face twisted into a frown and he launched himself at me.

"I am _not crazy!_ No I'm_ not!_" He growls at me. He was laying on top of me, digging his gloved hand into my injured leg. His other hand snaked around my throat, squeezing until I had a hard time breathing. I grimaced, scrambling uselessly at his hands.

"_Take..it..back_." He whispered.

"Fine. I just saw a completely normal and sane man on the street, only with a jacked up face." I managed to squeak out through his strangle hold. His eyes calmed and he released my throat. But he wasn't moving to get off of me. I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"Do you mind, um, getting off of me? This is kind of uncomfortable." I said. He was basically straddling my waist. Slowly, he climbed off of me and went back to sit on the opposite side of the couch.

He sighs and reaches down into the couch cushions. After a second of searching, his hand comes back up with the TV remote. He turns it on and sets the remote aside.

"Look at the pretty moving pictures." He says. I roll my eyes and watch the TV. He had it on the news channel. Apparently, we were on TV. I listened as the news reporter droned on about the accident.

"This morning, Joker took a hostage off of the street. Kate Pierce, 18, was taken by the Joker this morning on her way to work. Apparently he had accomplices. She was reportedly running from five men, and a black van. The driver shot out at the crowd, but luckily no one was injured." I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Thank God no one was hurt. I looked over to Joker who was smiling gleefully and trying to hold back giggles.

I shook my head and grabbed the remote. I turned the TV off and tossed the remote on the floor.

"I was _watching _that." He said.

"You were enjoying it too much." I mumbled. My eyes were starting to droop. Joker got up and picked the remote up from the floor, turning the TV back on. I sat with my side leaning against the back of the couch, my knees to my chest. I watched as Joker continued laughing at the news that was about him.

After the news went off, He turned the TV off and looked over to me. My eyes were currently half-closed. He sighed and leaned his head on the back of the couch. I watched his calm face as I drifted into a deep and peaceful sleep.

A/N: Extremely short chapter, I'm afraid. Hopefully the next will be longer. Please review! You know how I love it.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Ok. So… Thanks for all of the reviews, fav and follows. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Enormous thanks to Predy96! Without him, this would not have been updated with a new chapter! Thank you so much!

Jim Gordon sat on the ledge of the GCPD rooftop. The floodlight was on, shining the bat emblem in the sky. He lifted the Styrofoam cup to his mouth and sipped on the hot coffee. It was well past midnight. He had had a long day. The media was hounding him for any information about the girl Joker had kidnapped. Right off the street, in bright daylight, too. He must have really wanted this girl.

"Gordon." Jim jumped at the gruff voice that always appeared out of nowhere. He hissed slightly as hot coffee spilled out on his shirt. Jim walked over to the floodlight and turned it off.

"Can you tell me anything about the missing girl? You seem to know everything about everyone." He turned to face the Dark Knight.

"Kate Pierce. Eighteen years old, works at Wayne Enterprises in the Applied Sciences department. No criminal background, nothing connecting her to crime. No reason for the Joker to want her. I want to include a man in with this. Lucius Fox, head of Applied Sciences. He knew her personally. He could tell us more." Batman looked at Jim, full of confidence. He had to agree. They needed Lucius. And if not, he could always inform Lu on everything.

Jim seemed to hesitate for a moment. Finally, he relented. "Ok. He could help us out. Can you contact him?"

Batman nodded his head once, stiffly. "Yes. He's already on his way."

Jim scoffed for a second but quickly stopped. This guy could be useful. "Ok. But next time, ask before you invite." Jim laughed.

"So, how long till he gets here?"

About ten minutes later, the two men heard shouts coming from downstairs. There was banging as people came up the staircase. Suddenly, the door to the roof flew open. A black man, wearing a suit, walked through, along with several cops.

"He's here." Batman said. The cops tried to usher the man back downstairs, but he pushed them aside.

The man walked over to Jim and extended his hand. "Lucius Fox. He invited me." Lucius pointed to Batman. Jim shook his hand.

"Yes. I was just informed not fifteen minutes ago. All of you. Back downstairs, he's a friend." Jim pointed to the cops and waved them off. Lucius Fox laughed and watched the scolded cops back down.

Lucius turned back to the mousy haired man. "Listen, I really want to help with this. Kate is a dear friend. I want to help get her back."

Jim nodded. "Is there anything important you can tell us? Maybe if you have an idea of why the Joker wanted her?" Lu nodded.

"About a week ago, she said she had seen a strange man on the street. He had scars like the Joker's and she believed it was him. Then at a fundraiser Bruce Wayne had thrown for Harvey Dent, Joker confronted her there. Kidnapped her then, but just took her home. I don't really know what she's done to attract such a madman, but I have a feeling it doesn't take much." Lucius frowned. He was deeply worried about Kate. She's just a child. Who knows what that psycho was doing to her. Or even if she was alive. He shook his head. He couldn't think like that.

Jim nodded. He had taken a notepad out of his back pocket, and was scribbling down notes.

"Is there anything else? Anything that seems relevant, even if its not, it could probably still help." Jim was desperate. He had to find this poor girl. To his disappointment, Lucius shook his head no.

"I can't think of anything else."

Jim sighed and returned his notebook to his back pocket. He then took up his customary position, his hands up on his hips.

"How are we going to find her?" He asked the other men. Lucius looked to the ground, an idea slowly forming in his head.

"What about her iPod? Do you think she still has it?" Lucius looked to Batman.

"I didn't find it, so I would assume she does." Lucius smiled slightly. "If she could get on the internet, then maybe I could track her through that."

Jim nodded. "But how likely is it that she has access to the internet?"

"I'll admit, it's very unlikely. But we can try. She's a smart girl. If she knows there is a network, then she'll get on. Try to send a message of some sort." Lucius replied.

"He's right," Batman said, "We could at least set up the track. If she gets on, then the system will alert us, and could tell us what network is being used, and give us her general location." Lucius nodded as Batman finished.

"Ok. If you can find her location, I'll send every man I have, and the SWAT. We have to find her." The three men agreed to the plan and went their separate ways. Lucius to Applied Sciences at Wayne Enterprises, to set the track. Jim went back downstairs and informed his men on the new information. Batman went out into the city, going where he was needed, but the fear for Kate's life present in his mind all the way.

All of them wanted to find Kate, safe. But each knew the possibility that she was even alive was very slim.

A/N: Short chap I know. If the track idea is wrong, don't tell me. I really don't care. It's possible in the story. Thanks again to Predy96 for the inspiration! You are awesome!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Ok, I have never played a war game, unfortunately. But Predy96 gave me the idea and I loved it. I think Modern Warfare 2 came out after the movie but my friends recommended it. I'm sorry if it is not accurate. I just watched some YouTube videos of it and hoped I could type it justice. Read and Review, people!

* * *

I woke up slowly, groaning at the crick in my neck. Lifting my hands to my face slowly, I heard an uncharacteristic, clanking metal sound. Opening my eyes, I found I was wearing handcuffs. Only one question formed in my head. Why?

Remembering that I had fallen asleep next to the Joker, I looked to where he was last seen. He was still relaxed with his head leaned back. Now, his mouth was slightly open, soft snoring being heard. I looked back down to the handcuffs, shaking them slightly. I wonder if I could choke him with them.

Sitting forward slightly, I waved my cuffed hands in front of his face. Suddenly, his eyes shot open. His hand gripped my wrists and pulled me off balance. His other hand wrapped around my neck, and before I knew it, my back was on the ground. He had my arms above my head, and his knee was digging into my stomach. The Joker's face spoke of rage.

After he saw it was just me, he let go of my throat. His face calmed from anger to annoyance.

"I was sleeping. _Why _did you wake me u_p_? It wasn't nice, doll face." And he slapped me harshly across my face. I gaped at him. He grinned.

"Asshole. Why am I in handcuffs?" I asked, trying my best not to grimace at the sting he created. He licked his lips.

"It's hard to run when your hands are all tied up. _I _should know. And it was _kin-ky_." He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled darkly.

"In your dreams." I spat.

"Yes, it is. And I can very easily make it _real_." His face darkened and he put more weight on his knee, causing me to groan from the pressure. His tongue came out and licked his lips.

"Can you take them off? It's not like I _can_ run." I asked. He laughed,

"Tell you what. How about we have some _fun, _hmm?" He released me from his grip and stood up. Slowly, I followed and sat on the couch.

"We'll play a game, _my choice_. If you, ah, win, then I'll let you out of the handcuffs. If _I_ win, you have to wear them for the rest of the day, _and_, you give me a kiss." He finished with his eyes shining happily.

Sitting for a while, I contemplated the bargain. If I win, then these stupid handcuffs will be gone. But if I lose, then they stay, _and_ I have to kiss the Joker. I gagged slightly at the thought. It wouldn't be the end of the world. Nasty, absolutely. But I doubt he'll make another bet.

"Fine. I'll play your little game." He cocked his head and extended his hand. Sighing, I shook it, sealing my deal with the devil.

Joker giggled excitedly as he walked over to the TV. He bent down and acted like he was taking something out from behind it. "So what are we playing?" I asked. He laughed. "We are going to play a _video game_." He turned to see my reaction, which was my mouth hanging open.

"A video game."

"Yes."

"You,,ah,,no. I did not expect that." I shook my head in disbelief. Joker played video games. Very, er, interesting.

"Um, what game are we playing?" Generally, I suck at video games. I'll probably regret making this bet.

"Call Of Duty Modern Warfare, _two_." Joker put emphasis on the word two. Yep, going to regret this a lot. I'm so screwed.

I watched as Joker pulled out an Xbox 360 and started to set up the system.

"We don't keep it plugged in _all_ the time. That way if we needed to, um, we could just grab it and _run_." He said when I had asked him why it wasn't already set up. He handed me a controller and sat next to me on the couch.

"So what are the controls?" I asked, looking at the controller stupidly.

"_Well,_ the joystick, _er of course, _moves the player around." Joker drawled out, while giving me look as if he were talking to a toddler. I snarled at him as he continued.

"Left is to aim. Right shoots. Um, _X_ reloads and picks stuff up. _B_ is _crouch_. _Y_ switches weapons. And _A_ is to jump. _Got it?" _He said. I watched as he sucked the inside of his mouth, and nodded my reply.

"Good. Let's begin." I turned my attention to the TV screen, not realizing he had already entered the game. The words Team Deathmatch appeared on the screen, along with split screen gameplay. It opened up in an old industrial park.

"Wait. I don't get a trial run, I mean come on?" I started panicking.

"Nope. Just play. Like this." Looking back at the screen, I saw him run away from me, shooting.

"_And,_ you're losing." My man went down and Joker giggled. 'First Blood' appeared on his screen.

"Hang on. Give me a chance here." Coming back on, I started moving my guy and trying to get a feel for the controls. Joker scoped in from on top of some structure in the center and shot me again. And again.

"Quit! I….ha..can't…stop it, geez!" I had started laughing at how many times he gunned me down. The army dude hardly moved before he got shot.

This time when the guy came back, I immediately moved him out of fire by ducking behind a container.

"Oh, yeah…haha." Joker brought his man down from the structure and started towards me. Backing up, I waited for him to come into range. Seeing movement, I aimed and shot, hoping he didn't get me first. It worked. 'Revenge' popped up on my screen.

"Oh. Haha! Yeah."

"Don't get too happy, doll face. You got me _once_." He giggled and pointed at the screen. In my distraction, he had shot me down again. I couldn't help but duck my head and laugh.

"Damn it. Oh, it's on." My full concentration was in this now. The man moved up a vent. Next, he jumped onto the structure. Joker was on the ground. He aimed and fired, but my guy was hiding.

Peeking out, he fired at Joker, gunning him down. I giggled as he growled at his death. He moved his guy up the vent too, coming towards where I was. He died. I started cracking up laughing at his frustration. This is a fun game.

This time he got me. He laughed. Eventually, it came to where we just ran around the area and shot, hoping to catch the other. We were both smiling and laughing. Then the screen stopped and said 'Victory" on the Joker's side. Apparently twenty-five hundred points was the limit. My mouth gaped open and Joker sat with a smug face next to me.

"Ni. Uhh, but..mahni. Damn it! Two out of three?" I asked after my incomprehensible, 'WTF?'

"Nope, ah. I won. _You_ have to wear the handcuffs _and_ kiss me! But we can play another game if you want." Sighing, I sat and let the information sink in. I have to kiss the Joker. The Joker. And on a lesser note, I have to wear these stupid handcuffs. Fucking great.

"Yep, I need the distraction. Let's play." He smiled as we started another game.

I stretched out as Joker put the game system away. He won again. Wondering about the time, I asked him.

"I think it's about 3 a.m. We have a busy day today, doll face."

"What? How long was I out?" I couldn't believe it was that long.

"Long time. I was able to go out and do some busine_ss_ while you were _a-sleep._ You should get some more rest. We are, er, attending a funeral service today." Confused, I asked whose.

"Commissioner Lobe's, silly. I'm ah, meeting a _friend_ there. Now come on." Joker grabbed my arm and hauled me up. We started walking to the door he had went through earlier to get the medical kit. My leg protested against the walk.

"Where are you taking me?"

"My room." I jerked against his grip.

"Why?"

"It's where you're going to sleep. Now come _on."_ He pulled hard and I nearly fell into him. We walked into a hallway, and went about halfway down. He stopped at a door and opened it up. Pushing me in first, he grunted and followed.

His room was…haphazard. There were a few pieces of furniture, including a huge bed, nightstand, and a dresser. The bed was unmade. Pillows and sheets were smeared with paint. The nightstand had an array of knives piled on it, along with a gun and a lamp. The dresser had empty and half-used greasepaint cans on it, some of the paint had spilled on the dresser, and there were splotches on the drawers. To the right was a door, that I assumed led to a bathroom. Another pair of doors was opposite of it, his closet from the cracked door.

Joker shut the door. On the inside were several gashes and splintered slits in it. One had a knife sticking out of it. He followed my line of sight.

"I've been looking for that one." He murmured and took the knife. He closed it and stuck it in his pocket.

"Well, I'll let you get settled in." He was about to leave when he acted as if he remembered something.

"Oh, wait. _You_ still owe me that _kiss_." He smiled and started to stalk back towards me. My eyes grew wide and my feet started moving backwards.

"_No, no, no._ Come _here_." He lunged and grabbed the chain to the handcuffs, pulling me in close. He put my arms over his head, trapping them there.

I gulped as I saw his eyes darken. He grabbed my jaw and wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me to him. Whimpering at his tight grip, he smiled and pushed his mouth on mine. My 'no' was muffled under his mouth. I could feel the raised edges of his scars on my cheek.

I tried to pull away when I thought it had been more then long enough, but he growled and started to walk us back. He bit lightly at my lower lip, wanting me to open my mouth.

"_Open your mouth._" He growled out when I refused. I gasped and he took the opportunity. Grimacing, I finally felt my back hit a wall. Joker pinned me there as his tongue explored my mouth.

My breath became heavy with fear. I could just feel something starting to stick into my hip, and I hoped it was one of his knives. Joker continued to kiss me, his hand around my waist moved to my hip and was now creating a bruise. This had gone too far.

With my good leg, I kneed him in his crotch. The result was instant. Gasping, he released me and went to hold himself. I fell to the floor without the support and pressed myself to the wall.

Joker grunted as he straightened up. His eyes searched the room for a moment before they landed on me. And he was pissed.

He growled loudly and ran up to me. His leg came back and he kicked my injured leg, causing me to scream. I tried to crawl to the side, but he grabbed me and straddled my waist.

"You'll regret that! I'll touch you and you can't do anything _about it! _Unless you want me to go after some of your _friends."_ Joker emphasized almost every other word with a punch to my torso, twice of which was in the face.

"Stop!" That's all I was able to get out. I tried my best not to cry. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

And he did for a moment. But only long enough to pull out a knife from his pocket.

"Maybe I should finish what I had started, hmmm? You need to smile more, kid!" His voice started to get high pitched. His knife was pressed into the corner of my mouth where he had scratched me that first night.

"Do it." I said, deadpan. Maybe it would kill me. His face was taut, his scars stretched. He licked his teeth, thinking. Eyes searching.

Finally, he growled and pulled the knife away.

"Don't think you're off the hook. Since I don't want you getting lost today…." He grabbed the handcuffs and pulled my arms up. Holding just above my right wrist, he took the knife up to it. His eyes lit up as he pressed the point of the blade into the skin.

I screamed as he carved something into the skin. Blood poured from my wrists and onto both of our clothes. The searing pain seemed to last forever.

When he finished, he let my wrist go and wiped his knife on my jeans. I pulled my bloodied arm up to my chest.

"There. Now, if you get lost, whoever finds you will know who you belong to." His voice was rough, and ended with another growl.

He turned away and started to walk out the door. My vision slowly started to black out. The sound of a door slamming and the searing pain in my wrist accompanied me as I passed out.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a very long time. Things have been wild lately.

( Generic Excuse ) Hope you like the chapter!

Joker walked down the hall and back into the main room. His men were back from partying and were all over the place, drunk and annoying. It was hard for him to think with all this noise.

He reached into his jacket and pulled a gun out. Aiming at the closest clown, he shot the unfortunate man in the head. The shot echoed around the building, silencing all of the men.

"Now. All of you have heard of our little guest, yes? If any of you _touch_ her, your neck will be slit before you even know what you did. Am I _understood_?" He tongued at his scars, waiting for a response from the idiots before him. Silent nods and quiet murmurs of 'yes sir' satisfied him.

He searched out his most trusted henchmen and sent him to patch Kate up. He cut her deep and he didn't want her bleeding out. Not _yet_, anyway.

Slowly sighing, Joker headed back toward his room. He wanted to take a shower and try to shed off his paint and anger. The paint had to come off for his plan today. It was perfect. Those fool cops wouldn't expect him _in _the ceremony, let alone on the Honor Guard.

Opening the door, he saw the man in the process of stitching up Kate's wrist. A crude stitch job at that. Good. It would make a hell of a nasty scar. She was on the floor still, must have passed out.

Happy with the work the man was doing and sure that he wouldn't rape her, Joker took off his coat and laid it on the bed. He then proceeded to the bathroom.

His erection finally wore off, thankfully. Stripping down, he took a leak, and jumped into the shower to start the long process of washing out his green hair and scrubbing his face clean.

Usually, he would hum while in the shower, but he was not in the mood for it. And his mind was too busy mulling over Kate and everything that's happened.

He was confused as to _why_ he really wanted the girl. He wasn't completely sure. She was pretty and smart. But what did that matter? No. He just got her so that he could destroy her. That was it.

As he scrubbed the heck out of his hair, he thought back to the kiss. It was good. It made him want her more. If she hadn't ruined it, then he'd probably be in the bed fucking her senseless.

Just for that, maybe he should rape her. It would be the ultimate humiliation, no? And he does _love_ to cause pain.

Growling, he ended the thought and just focused on scrubbing down his body. When he did take a shower, he made sure he really worked himself over.

Maybe he would just end up killing her? Scrubbing his shoulders, he felt the soap slide down his back and ass until it slid onto the floor. He took another big handful of shampoo and did one more round to make sure most of the green was gone. Finally, he turned the steaming water off and grabbed a towel.

He towel dried his hair, then wrapped it around his hips. Back in his room, the man had gone and Kate's wrist was stitched, the bleeding stopped. Walking over to her, he stumped down and picked up her arm. With the dried blood crusted all over her arm, it looked a lot worse then what it really was.

Seeing that she was still handcuffed, he grabbed his coat and felt around in his pockets. Getting the key, he unlocked her shackles.

He sat on his bed for a while, staring at her sleeping figure. Then he decided to show more compassion than he could stand.

Picking her up he laid her down on his bed and went to retrieve a wet washcloth from the bathroom. When he returned he sat next to her and roughly cleaned off the blood from her arm.

After a few minutes, he was satisfied with the amount he removed and looked at his work. Her wrist was still colored pinkish. The large 'J' shown very clearly. With the stitch job and his own work, it would scar very nastily and very deep. She would carry the mark to her grave.

He dropped her wrist and retrieved his Honor Guard uniform from the closet. Smiling, he thought to himself, "This is going to be a fun day."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Keep reading. At the end he doesn't really do it. For those of you who might stop reading then and there. And he won't rape her.

_We were all sitting on the couch together, watching a movie of some sort. We were all happy for once._

_At the door, there was a loud pounding. Dad looked at us then went to open the door. When he did, several men piled into the room, carrying knives and guns. Mom and I immediately jumped from the couch. Some of the men pointed guns at us, freezing us in our tracks._

_The man in lead had no weapon that I could see. He was tall, wearing jeans and a torn shirt. The man looked as if he was recovering from being drugged up. I should know. I had seen my parents look the same way._

_He stepped forward and addressed my father._

" _Ah, Lucas. How are you doing? You know, you really haven't been keeping up with your tab have you."_

_My father was scared. His face conveyed the 'deer in the headlights' look. Little did we know, one deer would get hit._

_The lead man snapped his fingers and a man came forward and grabbed me. My back was facing him. He felt in his pocket and brought up a very large hunting knife._

_Another man stood behind my mother, bringing her to stand next to Dad._

"_I'll get it paid. I promise. Just don't hurt my family." My dad practically begged. The man wasn't buying it. _

"_Your promises are worth nothing, Lucas. We demand payment now. Or else." He looked toward me and nodded to the beast holding me._

_I felt the knife brought up to my throat. I squirmed, trying to get free. It was no use._

_Both my parents faces paled._

"_Please don't hurt her." Mom said. Tears started to pour down her cheeks._

"_Then give us the money you owe." The man progressively got angrier. His voice darkened._

"_We don't have it. But we can get it. Just give us a little while longer." Dad tried to bargain with them. They wouldn't have it._

_The knife moved from my throat and the tip dug into the very base of my neck. I cried out in pain and fear._

"_No!" More men came up to hold my parents back._

"_Give us the money, or your daughter dies!" The knife dug deeper into my skin. _

"_We don't have it! Please!" The man nodded to the goon behind me. He dug the knife deep into my skin and started to pull it down my shoulder. I screamed with agony, my body trying to get away from the pain._

_I could hear my parents screaming. Pain shot throughout my body. And it just kept coming._

I jumped awake screaming. My hands fisted into my hair, trying to control the sobbing that racked my body.

Slowly my body relaxed. It was over. In the past. It didn't matter. Wiping the tears away, I looked around the room. I was still in Joker's room. But instead of being on the floor where I remembered passing out, I was on his bed.

A throb started to awaken in my wrist. I looked at it and paled. It felt as if I may be sick. The bastard carved a 'J' into my wrist. He had the balls to mark me.

The stitching was very crude, making it bunch up in places, uneven. It would make a horrible scar.

That wasn't the only thing that hurt. My whole body was sore. I lifted my shirt, finding several large bruises. Wincing after poking one, I got up and walked into the bathroom.

Looking in the dirty mirror, I found my face didn't look too good either. My jaw had a bruise on it too, hurting when I opened my mouth. There was also a bruised cut on my temple.

Sighing, I used the toilet before going back into his room. Suddenly I was aware of a weight in my pocket. I took out the object and nearly cried with joy. It was my iPod. Jackpot. I quickly turned it on, luckily the battery was still alive. Immediately I went to setting to check for WiFi. If I could get on the internet I could send a message for help. To my utter dismay, there was no WiFi. Nothing to connect to. Discouraged, I placed it back in my pocket, hoping they wouldn't find it. Then the door opened and one of Joker's men was at the door.

"Boss wanted me to get ya. About time to go." He came forward and guided me out of the room.

"Where are we going?" I asked. He didn't answer me.

He kept me going into the warehouse. A couple of men lounged on the furniture, talking. We kept going until we were outside. There was a black SUV parked nearby. He ushered me to it and in a seat. Looking out the window, I tried to look at the surroundings. It was an old warehouse, there was no name of a company on it though.

I kept looking. None of it was familiar to me.

The doors to the SUV were locked and the man who escorted me here was standing guard outside.

I didn't know how long had passed when I was woken from my doze to the car doors opening. Two men piled in next to me, with fancy looking uniforms on. Two men climbed in the front and we started driving.

The man next to me put his arm around the top of the seat, and played with my hair.

"Hey! Stop it!" I yelled and smacked his arm away.

He lifted his head and turned to look at me. The man was handsome, looked to be in his late twenties, and had a four 'o'clock shadow. He also had dark, almost black eyes, and a grin that was made larger with the Glasgow smile that was cut through his skin.

I gaped at the man in front of me. Words refused to form. Aptly put, I was paralyzed.

"It's not _po-_lite to stare doll face. Didn't your mother teach you that?" His voice was nasally, with strange emphasis on words.

When my mouth finally found the strength to form words all that came out was, "Uhhh."

He smirked at my loss of words.

"You like what ya see?" He asked.

"I was just…taken off my guard. I didn't expect to see you without your war paint." I said.

"Ah yes. The moment when people realize uh, I am just a human." My eyes refused to leave his face. They drifted lazily across his scars, then up to his eyes. He stared at me, his black eyes making me uncomfortable with their intensity. Finally, he broke the silence.

"So do you like my _handiwork_? I am especially ah proud of this one." He gripped my wrist and I winced. He looked at it and smiled, his eyes glazing over with the memory of carving it into my wrist. I pulled it away from him.

Anger started to well up inside. I wanted to choke it down, but it refused. When he saw that my jaw was clenched, he smirked with satisfaction. There was also slight dismay. She hasn't broke yet.

"I know you're angry doll face, but do both of us a _favor_, and uh wait until we get back home. Then we can fight it out back in our room, hmm?" His voice was edgy. I decided that I shouldn't push it.

He draped his arm back around my shoulders.

"What are you wearing?" I asked, hoping to calm any tension.

"They are Honor Guard uniforms that we er, _borrowed._ For the special ceremony today. It's gonna be fun." He glanced at me and turned to look out the front windshield. I had a bad feeling about this.

"What are you going to do at the ceremony?" I was getting nervous.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

We kept driving into the city, towards the center. The main roads were blocked by police cars and barriers. We turned into an alley and drove a while longer. The car slowed to a stop behind a apartment building. In the street, I saw people lined up along the streets.

"Ok boys. Let's go." I was ushered out the car and into the back door of the building. I was pulled along as they ascended several flights of stairs. Finally they pulled out onto one of the floors and headed to a door. The driver opened it and lead us through.

The room was completely empty except for a pillar which had men tied to the bottom, in their underwear.

"Lets hurry. Come on, get it set up." Joker urged his men to set a trap. They set a telescope next to the window. Next they set up an interesting trigger. It was connected to a timer, which when the time was up, it would lift up the blinds.

The men tied up grunted and squirmed. I stared at them until Joker grabbed me and was heading back downstairs. His men followed.

Joker opened the door to the SUV and pushed me inside. We drove through the alleys and reached the front . There was a stage and podium. The car stopped and Joker turned to me.

"Now you're going to be a _good girl_ aren't you?" He growled dangerously and I nodded in reply, the throb throughout my body reminding me that I didn't need anymore beatings right now.

The driver handed him duck tape and handcuffs. I groaned at the objects. I backed up to the other side of the car. Joker just growled and followed. He grabbed my wrist making me yelp from the pain that shot through my hand. The handcuffs clicked on my wrists and he tore some duck tape off. When he starter to bring it to my mouth, I angled my head away from him.

"No, come on. No duck tape." I pleaded.

"Too bad. Quit _squirming_. Stop!" He was getting upset. Roughly he grabbed my jaw and slapped the duck tape over my mouth.

"Mrrhnnn. Mmmh. Hurhh!" Joker smiled and patted my cheek.

"Enjoy the show, kiddo." He closed the door behind him and gave orders to the men. Two climbed men climbed in the front seats. Joker and the man who had sat beside him went into the crowd and disappeared.

The men conversed quietly. I grunted and pulled against my bonds, And trying to climb into the back the SUV. The men quickly grabbed the hem of my jeans and pulled me back. One pointed a gun at me.

"You better stop it you brat, or I'll blow your brains out." I rolled my eyes and sat still, pouting. Then a light bulb lit in my brain. I still have my iPod. I could check it for internet connections. I would have to be careful though.

Slowly I reached into my pocket and took it out. I turned it on, flinching when it clicked. They didn't notice. Music started to play in the streets. It was starting.

The men became silent and we listened to the music continue for half an hour. I heard the sound of marching coming down the street.

Quickly I went back to my iPod. Settings, WiFi…..Yes! There was a connection. I'm saved! I connected, giddy when it was successful.

"Hey!" I jerked my head up. The men were looking at my iPod. One lounged for it and I pulled it out of his reach. They grabbed my leg and pulled me forward, snatching it from my hand.

I watched helplessly as he rolled down the window and threw it against a wall, where it smashed into several pieces.

"Joker'll hear about this." He growled, then turned to face forward.

The marching and the music stopped and the voice of Mayor Garcia started talking about the former Commissioner Loeb. I sat quietly, ears perked and heart hammering.

What was Joker doing? I was so nervous. My only hope was just smashed against a wall. What now?

I heard them announce the Honor Guard, who started their drills. I sucked in a breath and held it. Halfway through the drills, gunshots started. I gasped and leaned forward, trying to see. The crowd was running around in a panic.

One figure stood out from the rest. He hunched down and was running to the car. It was Joker.

He quickly opened the door and jumped in, yelling at his men to go. One asked where the other man was. Joker stayed silent.

Sitting away from him, I could see he was fuming with rage. Apparently things didn't go as planned.

He turned towards me and growled. "_Not. One. Word._"

I glared at him and clenched my jaw tight. One of the men piped up.

"She had an iPod boss." My eyes opened wide. Oh shit.

Joker turned to me. Through clenched teeth he asked, "Did _you have an iPod_?" I could hardly breath. This was going to be my death. Well I wasn't going down easy.

"Yes." I said, jutting out my jaw. He seethed and jumped on me. Instantly he had a knife in his hand and up to my face.

"_Did you send somebody a message? Hmm? _TELL ME!" This was the angriest I had ever seen him. I noticed that with or without the paint, he can still scare the hell out of you.

"No. I didn't. Your boys found it before I could do anything." I kept my face hard. He pressed the cold metal into my skin and stared me down. He was searching for a sign that I had lied. He didn't find it.

He put the knife away. I thought he was going to sit back down when he slapped me hard across the face. I grunted and looked back at him. We glared at each other.

The rest of the drive was held with silent tension. I refused to hang my head in defeat. Instead I held it high, looking out the window. We drove a different way then we had before. This one had no signs or landmarks of any kind. I was lost.

The car finally pulled in front of the warehouse. Joker grabbed me and pulled me along. His men came in behind us.

He kept walking until he reached the rest of his men. He grabbed a gun from the closest one and aimed at the two men. He shot the one who had told him about the iPod. The other shook. But Joker ignored him. He tossed the gun down and continued to drag me along.

I realized that he was dragging me back to his room. Pulling at his grasp, I tried to get away. My efforts didn't seem to faze him. He ignored me and soon pushed me into his room.

Falling from the shove, I backed away as he stalked toward me. His shoulders were hunched and his face displayed anger. Climbing from the floor and turning on my heel, I tried to get away from him. But there was nowhere I could go. He blocked the only exit.

I turned back to face him. He was in front of me now. Suddenly he flung me onto the bed nearby. Scrambling was useless. He was on top of me, his hands fisted into my hair and his mouth crushed against mine. Pushing against his shoulders did nothing.

His mouth moved hard against mine, biting at my lips. I yelped as he bit my lip hard, drawing blood. Finally, he pulled back. He stared at me darkly for a moment before getting up and walking out the door with a slam.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hope you all like it!

Lucius Fox was standing in front of several large monitors, ready to pounce at any sign of Kate. She had been gone for so long. He began to doubt that she was even alive.

On one of the monitors, a tiny blip appeared. An alarm started to sound. He had set it in case he was asleep when it happened. Kate was on the Internet.

Acting immediately he started typing commands into the computers. Eventually, a screen came up with the network that she had connected to. And just as fast as the blip appeared, it vanished. It didn't matter. He got what he needed.

Kate had connected to a coffee house network. It was on the street that Commissioner Loeb's memorial was taking place.

Lucius picked up a phone and tried to get a hold of Bruce. No dice. What the hell was he doing? He called again and Alfred answered.

"Hello?"

"Alfred, where is Bruce?"

"He's not here right now. He's following up on a possible lead for the Joker. What is it?" Lucius nearly yelled at Alfred.

"It's Kate. I've got a possible signal. I need him to check it out."

"Ok. Give me the address, I'll tell him."

The Joker got away. Again. I rushed down the stairs and onto the street. Everyone was in a panic. I could hardly hear Alfred on the earpiece.

"Bruce? Can you hear me?"

"Just barely. What is it now?" Running into the crowd, I tried to find Gordon.

"It's Kate. Lucius says he has a possible location." Stopping in my tracks, I looked around. The Joker was gone. He knew that. But if he can find Kate, then he may find Joker.

"Tell me."

"It's the coffee shop. Across from the stage. He said she connected for a moment before he lost it. What's happened down there?"

"Joker got away. He tried to shoot Mayor Garcia. What I can tell, he's ok. I'll get back to you if I find anything."

Running through the crowds of screaming people, I found the coffee shop. Knowing she wouldn't have been _in_ the building, I went to the alley beside it. Searching for any sign that she had been there, I almost gave up. There was little to nothing useful here. Before turning back toward the street, a small white object caught my eye.

It was smashed into several pieces, but you could tell what it had been. It was someone's ipod. Most likely, Kate's ipod.

Pulling out a bag from my jacket, I began collecting the pieces. Lucius may be able to find something useful.

"Alfred, I found Kate's ipod. It's been broken. I'll bring it in to Lucius."

"Yes, sir. I'll tell him."

Back out on the street, the people had left, leaving medical personnel and police officers. Up on the stage, several people stood around a figure. Two paramedics were working around them. For a moment, I thought Joker had shot Garcia.

But then some cops moved to the side. I could see who was shot. It was Gordon. The paramedics shook their heads and began to gather their equipment. He was gone.

On the opposite side of town, two men were buying some liquor at a small store. They stocked up on several cases of beer, nine bottles of Jack Daniels, three vodka, and some gin. While checking out, the men wished the boss would just let them kill the store owner and take the booze. But he said he didn't want to chance it right now.

Sullenly, the men paid the guy and packed their purchase into the truck. Next stop was pizza. He said they could kill the delivery guy.

Goddamn bipolar clown. How much longer until I get killed or, slim chance, saved? And I hoped one or the other would happen before I get molested again.

Sitting on the edge of Joker's bed, I stared at the door, waiting for him to come charging through it with a knife in his hand. Speaking of knives, he removed all of his extra knives from around the room, unfortunate in my case.

My body still ached, but it was getting used to the swing of things. Just like the old days.

Rather numbly, I traced the J that was carved into my skin. This'll be a great story to tell the kids. Ha. I don't want kids.

Currently, I had no plan of escape. I saw none. With all these goons around, I wouldn't make the front door before I got shot.

Bored, I started rooting around his room. His dresser was filled with smiley face boxers and various kinds of comfy pants. And no shirts. Apparently he likes to sleep just in pants.

In his closet were a few extra shirts and vests, one more pair of pants. Only one coat though. I pulled it out and looked at it. It was obviously tailor made. And he accomplished to get dust on it. But no blood or various other bodily fluids. It smelled strongly of gasoline, some alcohol, and his own personal scent, which was probably the best smelling part of it. Replacing it on the rack, I looked on a shelf above it. There were a few boxes. I pulled down a particularly beat up one.

Taking it back to his bed I opened it up. It looked like a memory box. There were a few photos in it. A couple of buttons to various clothing items. Some letters. Mostly looked like love letters to a high school crush. God I hope he doesn't come in here right now.

Picking up one of the photos, I saw two small boys in it. They were sitting under a tree talking, oblivious of the camera. They were both cute little kids. One had blond hair, the other black. They wore summer clothes and one was pointing up into the tree. There was a little shack situated between some branches.

Another picture had the same boys, but older. Looked like they were in their early twenties. No more than twenty-two. Both were dressed in military uniforms, hair cropped short, stern expressions on their face.

Putting the photos down, I picked up one of the letters. Opening it, I saw it was a love note to some crush. Talked about how beautiful the girl was, and so on. At the bottom it was signed with a J.

Another letter was from the military. It was explaining the death of both boys. Killed in action. One body was never found. The names had been marked out.

Chills started to creep over me. I put the letters back and replaced the box to where I found it.

I didn't like to think that Joker was anything else than what he is now. But I knew different. Something might have drove him to where he is now.

No sooner had I replaced the box and closed the door, a man came into the room. I'd seen him around the warehouse. He seemed like he was ok.

"Come on. We got pizza and beer."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: This is a short chapter sorry. Warning: Contains drunk sex. It was very weird to write. Hope you all like, please R&R. And thanks for all of the favorites/follows!

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We walked down the hall and out into the main room. Everyone was eating pizza and drinking some form of alcohol. Joker sat on the couch and had a bottle of Jack in his lap. He seemed happier than I would have expected, his plans failed after all.

When he saw us coming he motioned for me to come and sit by him. Biting my lip, I walked over to him and sat down, leaving a good-sized gap between us. He still hadn't put his paint back on, but he was wearing his normal purple suit. "Hiya, sweet cheeks. Ah, I thought you might be hungry." Already his breath smelled like alcohol. He pointed to the boxes of pizza on a table.

He was right. I was starving. I hadn't eaten since the day he took me. Hesitantly grabbing a piece and taking a bite, the food filled my mouth with flavor, and I was soon finished and getting another slice.

Joker chuckled and handed me his bottle of Jack, and got another. I took a swig and relaxed as the alcohol slid down my throat. Soon, the remnants were gone and I was handed a beer. It had been so long since I had had any alcohol and was easily making up for lost time.

Half an hour later, the boxes were empty except for some pizza crust. Most of the men had already left or was starting to leave. One group had left hanging on to each other and singing a pop song. One man didn't know his limit and was passed out on the floor. Some of his buddies dragged him out.

Soon me and Joker were the only ones still there.

"Looks like it's just _me_ and _you_, _doll face_." Joker had finished another beer and threw the can behind him.

"Yep. Just _me_ and _you."_ I was sprawled out on the couch with an empty bottle in my hand.

"Hey, you're not wearing any paint. Why not?" I asked, lifting my head a bit.

"Don't wanna put it on yet. It itches." There was a few seconds of silence before we spoke.

"When am I going home? I got work tomorrow."

"I dunno. You don't have any work. It'll be Sunday." Joker answered. He grabbed my ankle and slid me down so that my legs were in his lap.

"Oh. So what do ya want to do?" He shrugged. There was more silence.

"You know, I don't know why people find you so scary. With your paint you are kinda creepy. But without it, you're kinda hot." My words were slurred slightly. Joker looked at me.

"You're not bad yourself doll face." He took my knee and pulled me down again until I was sitting in his lap. I smiled and moved to where I was straddling his lap. Joker looked at me with a mischievous smile.

"You may have a pretty face, but that doesn't matter if you are not a good kisser. And I am an excellent kisser."

"Oh yeah? Well I'm a good kisser too. Better than you, I bet." He scoffed as I laid my arms on his shoulders.

"Hmm. Well than, I'll show you I'm a _much _better kisser than you." Joker said as he grabbed the back of my head and pressed my lips to his.

My stomach started to tingle and I tangled my hands in his hair. He wrapped his other arm around my torso and pulled me close. He bit at my lip and I opened my mouth. His tongue slid into my mouth and I moaned into the kiss. Our tongues battled for a while before we had to pull away to catch a breath.

We were both breathing hard. Joker pushed me onto my back. One hand braced himself while the other pulled my leg onto his hip. He leaned down and bit my lip, making me whimper. He smiled and moved to my ear, pressing his lips on the tender skin underneath. My stomach was tingling and making my core ache.

I pulled on his hair and leaned up to nip at his neck. He grunted and pushed his hips into mine and started to grind hard. I groaned at the feel of his arousal.

"How bout we take this elsewhere?" He whispered in my ear. Before I had a chance to answer he was standing up, pulling me with him.

We walked quickly back to his room. Once inside, we were attacking each other. Our breathing was fast as we pulled each others clothes off in between kisses and nips. Soon we were only in our underwear, my bra with the other clothes on the floor.

Joker threw me on the bed and quickly climbed over me. His eyes grazed my chest for a moment before he came down and pulled a nipple into his mouth and sucked hard. I gasped and arched up into him. His hand fondled my other breast.

My hand slid over his toned chest, his torso, and slip lower to grasp him. His ministrations stopped and he groaned. Suddenly he growled and ripped of my underwear, followed by his boxers. He lifted a leg to wrap around his waist and one hand gripped my hip. In one solid stroke, he was deep inside me.

I yelped at the force and dug my nails into his shoulders. His thrusts were fast and hard making me moan.

"You're so tight and hot." Joker said as he dipped his head into the crook of my neck. He bit down hard and sucked, making sure to leave a mark. I was soon whimpering and withering underneath him.

My nails dug deep into his skin, drawing blood. He groaned and smirked into my neck. Lifting me up, he raked his nails down my back, making me jerk and gasp out. When he was finished, I bit hard into his neck. This time he just growled.

The pressure was building and I knew I would come soon. Joker's thrusts were starting to get more jerky. He must be close too.

"Mmmhn. Joker… I..I'm gonna…" I didn't have time to finish when he hit a spot inside of me, throwing me over the edge. Through my screams, I heard him grunt as I tightened around him rhythmically. With another thrust he came, his hot seed spilling into my body. He thrust a few more times before collapsing beside me.

We were both panting hard as we came down from our highs. My body still shook slightly from the force of my orgasm. Joker pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me. We said nothing as we slowly fell to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Finally! I got another chapter! I'm so sorry, but I was stuck. Once again I would like to thank Predy96, now Choco Scorpion Bat. I would be so screwed without you!

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God my body aches. And my head hurts.

My eyes opened slowly, taking in the environment. My body soon woke up as well, and I stiffened when I felt an arm wrapped around my middle. I turned my head slowly, only to meet the sleeping face of Joker.

"Ahh, what are you doing?!" I shrieked and regretted it when my head started to pound. Joker jerked awake and groaned.

"Not so loud doll face." When I saw he was shirtless, and I didn't feel any clothes, then it was major time to panic.

"Oh no. We didn't did we? We couldn't have."

"Done what?" He asked groggily. Slipping out from underneath the covers, I saw I was indeed naked.

"Oh, isn't this a surprise? You gonna do a little dance for me?" He grinned mischievously. My body was quickly covered by a pillow.

"No, no, no, no. This can't be happening." Our clothes were scattered around the room.

"What happen? What'd I miss?" Joker rested, only confusion shown on his face.

"We had sex, that's what!" I screamed at him. No this could not be happening. Never would I ever have sex with him. Hell must have froze over.

Joker was taken aback for a moment, until he looked at me, then lifted the covers up and peeked under.

"Well, would ya look at that? Huh." He smiled and crossed his arms behind his head.

"No, no, no, _nnooo_." My legs were weak and my head was spinning.

"Apparently it was yes, yes, yes, _yyesss_." He laughed and I glared at him.

"I for one, am glad it happened." That was it. I couldn't process this with him talking. Seeing the bathroom door, I made a dash for it. The door was closed and locked before he even sat up.

I paced around the small room. This could not be happening. Nope, nope. It's a bad dream, that's what. Dammit it's not! My hands fisted into my hair and I took deep breaths.

"Open the door." Joker pounded on the door, making it shake. I didn't answer, but instead slid down onto the cool floor. There was more pounding.

"Come on! I said open the door!" My breathing slowed but my stomach felt sick. How could I have been so stupid as to get drunk? And drunk next to the Joker! What the fuck is wrong with me? Oh shut up. My head pounded, made worse by Joker hitting the door.

"Open the door! Don't make this worse for yourself, dollface. I have a key to all of the doors in this building. Now open the door!" He started high pitched but ended in a deep growl.

"Just go away!" I yelled. I brought my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my ankles. I heard him growl and footsteps receded. He was gone for a while.

I calmed myself and started trying to think rationally. I had sex with the Joker. Nothing can change that fact. Now I need to focus on hoping I'm not pregnant and to not piss him off. Poor start on that second part.

May need to see if I can't help that now. I got up off the floor on shaky legs and unlocked the door. I didn't need to just sit here and cry like a big baby on the floor. I'll cry in the shower. Fuck! No crying!

Regardless I climbed into the shower and fooled around with the knobs until the water turned on. I jumped when cold water spurted out and fumbled around until I got hot water running.

The water ran over my face. It felt nice to shower. I have no idea how long it has been. Too long for my comfort that's for sure. Turning around I hissed when the water ran over my leg and wrist. They stung still, but had healed up a good bit.

Then I heard footsteps pounding toward the bathroom. Joker must be back. I heard clanking of metal and grumbling.

"It's open." I said just loud enough to be heard over the water. The grumbling stopped and something was thrown across the room. The door opened and I held my breath, afraid of what might happen.

The curtain moved and cold air rushed in. I was facing the wall opposite of him. He stepped into the shower and stood there. I kept still. Too bad he's not like a T-Rex. Bad vision and all. Wait no. Bad idea, he can stay human.

He moved closer to me and I tensed. For a while we just stood there. Neither of us said anything. He was the first to move. His hand reached up to my back and traced the scar lightly with his fingers. I involuntarily shuddered at the feeling. He leaned down and his lips brushed against the top of the jagged line. My breath hitched and he grabbed my hips.

"Tell me how you got it." He asked gently, his breath brushing my shoulder. I clenched my jaw.

"Why should I?" I said with more bite then I intended. His grip on my hips tightened and he growled low in his throat.

"Mmmh, _don't _test me_ honey._" He said dangerously. I didn't like to talk about it. Hardly anyone knew. Not even Lu.

"If I tell you mine, will you tell me yours? The truth. Not a story." He remained silent for a while before relenting.

"Ok, deal."

"Can I finish showering first?" I asked. He thought for a moment.

"You can tell me now or let me finish the shower with you and tell me after." He said before pressing his lips against the scar once more. I bit my lip. Either way he was staying in the shower with me.

"Fine, I'll tell you afterward. But there are boundaries." I said. His chest rumbled.

"Huhhh, _fine._ I'll be a good boy." He let go of me and stood back as I scrubbed my hair clean. I skipped rubbing down my body, not wanting to possibly provoke him. When I finished we switched places. I attempted to climb out of the shower but he grabbed my arm.

"At, ah, ah. You have to stay here with me." I groaned and stood in the corner. I looked away from him, not wanting to see anything. Soon the water turned off. Joker opened the curtain and stepped out. I stepped out too and was sure to look the opposite direction. He noticed.

"Whatcha doin?" He asked as he handed me a towel.

"Well...I just don't...want to see anything." My voice faded slowly toward the end. Joker giggled and came closer.

"Oh, _come on_ dollface. We're both adults here. And besides, you've already seen and felt and_ enjoyed_." I gagged and quickly wrapped the towel around my body. He picked up his own towel and dried off. Finally, he wrapped it around his hips. He smiled at me before leaving. I finished drying, taking my good time.

When I bucked up and went back into the room, Joker was dressed. Well, at least half dressed. He wore sweat pants. He still didn't have any face paint on. I pulled the towel tighter around me when he looked up from a deck of cards.

"Got ya some new clothes. Figured those wouldn't work anymore. Though I _would _ enjoy the _view_." I rolled my eyes and looked at my torn and bloody clothes laying on the floor next to his. He threw something at me and I just barely caught it. Holding them up, it was a t-shirt and some jeans. Thank you, god.

"Uhm, thanks." I said. I spotted my underwear and bra and retrieved them from the floor. When I moved to go back to the bathroom, Joker got up and blocked my way.

"Dress out here." He looked down at me, a smirk on his tired and scarred face. I knew there was no use in fighting.

Scowling I walked to the opposite wall. I looked back once. He was leaned up against the door frame with his arms crossed, still smirking. Facing the wall, I took a deep breath and let go of my towel. As soon as it hit the ground, I was trying to pull on my underwear. Joker laughed at my attempt to dress quickly.

Once I had my underwear on, it was easier to put on my bra, knowing he couldn't see anything. Next I pulled on the jeans and sighed. It felt nice to be in clean clothes. Picking up the t-shirt and rolling my eyes at the color, purple go figure, I hadn't noticed Joker sneaking up behind me.

His arm wrapped around my torso, keeping me still as he traced the scar again. He leaned down to my ear and whispered, "Tell me now."


	11. Chapter 11

"Ok." I said. That's all it took. Joker whirled us around and pushed me to the floor. He walked around and sat down indian style in front of me, his elbows sitting on his knees and his chin resting in his palms. He leaned forward, eyes lit and expectant. I rolled my eyes at his child-like pose and pulled the t-shirt on.

I sat for a minute, biting my lip. No one knew about the scar or how it happened. So I wasn't sure where I should start. Joker raised his eyebrows.

"_Well? _I'm_ wai_-ting." Taking a deep breath and looking down at my hands, I just started to speak.

"My parents drank a lot, and they used drugs even more often. We didn't really have a lot of money, and over time they had ranked up a pretty big tab with the wrong people." My eyes darted up to his for a moment before looking down again.

"I remember the three of us sitting on the couch together. First time we had acted like a family in a long time. We were watching a movie, I think it might have been a comedy. Gotta love irony." Joker giggled and I stopped to look at him.

"I'll be a good little boy, I promise. Sshhh, _quiet_!" He held a finger up to his mouth and shushed like a grumpy librarian. I couldn't help but smile.

"Anyways, we were sitting together on the couch when someone started to bang on the front door. Dad got up to answer it. There were several big guys with guns and knives come barging in." The words flowed easier as I remembered that night.

"Me and mom jumped off the couch but some of the men pointed guns at us. There was one man who must have been the leader. I couldn't see a weapon on him. He talked to my dad almost like an old friend would. But I knew he was far from it. He told him that they owed a lot of money and they were there to collect. Dad tried to tell them that they didn't have anything to give them. They wouldn't believe him. The man motioned to one guy who had a large hunting knife. He grabbed me and held it to my throat. The man threatened to have my throat cut if they didn't pay up. They begged for him to let me go but he didn't want to hear it. The guy holding me took the knife and placed it at the top of my shoulder," I pointed to the place unconsciously, "And he drug the knife down my back while my parents begged." I motioned behind me on how he cut. I could almost feel the blade running through me skin again.

I stopped, thinking he had heard enough, but he thought otherwise. "Go on." He urged gently. So I continued.

"Dad broke and told them that he had some emergency cash stashed away. He told them it was in a tin box underneath the kitchen sink. One man went and looked for it. He told my dad if it wasn't there, then he would have the knife drove through my chest. The guy found it." Joker urged on when he thought I was going to stop.

"The man told him they would be back for the rest of the payment. I was shoved to the ground and the men left. My parents took me to the hospital and claimed that I fell back on a broke glass door in the alley next to our house. I didn't say anything because I knew that nothing would come of it. If it we told the truth and they reported it, an empty investigation would go down lead by paid off cops. And likely we would all be killed for trying to go against them." I stopped talking and looked up at Joker to see if I had told enough.

"How old were you?"

"Twelve. When I turned sixteen I moved out. I think my parents were glad. They knew I wouldn't be safe around them. They're good people. Last I heard, they were in rehab." I sighed and rubbed my face. It was hard to tell him my story, but I think it made me feel a bit better. I looked up expectantly at him.

"Your turn. And no stories." I said and leaned back to stretch. Joker shifted uncomfortably and his hands fell to his lap. He growled and chewed on his scars as he seemed to think hard about what he was going to do. His eyes darted to the side where the closet was. He looked at me then back to the closet. Finally he made his decision.

He got up and walked over to the closet only to stop in front of it. I held my breath for whatever would happen next. He turned back to me.

"I'll tell you later."

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A/N: Muwhahaha! You'll have to wait to hear his story. I already have it wrote, I'm just screwing with you guys. Don't hate me too much. I'll get it up in a few days.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Here is the hopefully anticipated chapter of Joker's story! I'm sorry I made you all wait so long, but I wanted to make sure that it was how I wanted it and that I wasn't going to revise it. Also I would like to know if you guys would hate me or Kate if they have consensual sex in a later chapter. Which I'm not sure where to put it, so even if you say ok it may not happen. Let me know in the reviews!

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My mouth fell open and I jumped up from my spot and angrily walked over to him.

"You said you would tell me!" I shouted and poked him in the chest. I couldn't believe this.

"And I will, _later._"

"No! I just sat there and poured my heart out! Do you know how many people know about it? The only people who know the truth are my parents and the men that were in that room. And the first person I ever told was _you!_" I felt myself start to tear up. I was stupid enough to have believed he would tell me. And of all the people I could have told, I told the fucking Joker! Not Lu, not Rachel, but the mass murdering clown.

I turned away from him and tried to clear the tears that were threatening to fall. If I did cry, I didn't want him to see it. But I didn't have to worry about that. He didn't say anything as he turned around and went out the door. It shut quietly behind him.

That's when the tears fell. I sat down on the floor and put my hands up to my face. I hated crying. I hated it even more to cry in front of people. It's kinda hard to explain. Basically, I don't want people to see me at my weakest.

But now I allowed it. I needed it. Otherwise who knows what'll happen to my psych.

I sobbed quietly and rocked back and forth. I cried about everything that's happened to me. What did I do to deserve this? Why did Joker have to take me? Why not someone else?

That last thought I crumbled up and tossed it to the back of my mind. No I won't wish this on someone else. If anyone should take it it might as well be me.

I sighed and calmed down. Enough feeling sorry for myself. It's not going to help anything. Buck up, you wimp! Tiredness rushed over me and I crawled over to the foot of the bed and leaned back against it.

My head leaned back and my eyes closed for a little while. I didn't want to think. My knees came up close to my chest and my arms rested on top of them.

The door opened softly and I looked up to see Joker carrying two mugs. He shut the door behind him with his foot. When he looked up at me he stopped for a minute then continued to walk closer. He must of seen that I had been crying. When he stood in front of me he handed me a mug.

I took it carefully and looked inside. Looked like coffee. Smelled like coffee. Must be coffee. He took a sip out of his own mug then sat it on the floor next to me. I lowered my mug and watched as he went over to the closet and opened it up.

He reached up and took something off a shelf. When he closed the door I saw that it was the box that I looked through before. He held it carefully in his hands and looked down at it with an empty expression.

Finally he sighed and walked back over. He sat down next to me and held the box.

"There's really not a lot to tell." He said. For once he didn't sound, well, like Joker. He set the box in front of us and took off the lid. I sat my mug down and stared at it. Suddenly I felt like I didn't want to know his story.

He pulled out the pictures of the two boys, looked at them for a moment then handed them to me. I took them carefully and studied them again. The first was of two small boys sitting underneath a tree. One had blond hair and the other dark. The next picture was the boys grown and in military uniforms. Their hair was short and their face was stern, almost expressionless.

"The truth is I don't remember." He said sadly. I looked at him and was surprised. I had seen him happy, angry. But never had I seen him truly _sad_. I handed him the photos back.

He looked down at them.

"I don't know who he is. I don't know if he was my brother or a close friend. Sometimes I remember small bits and pieces, but they really don't tell me anything." He laid the pictures down beside the box and pulled something else out of it. It was the army letter. He unfolded it and handed it to me.

"Lucky me every name and date has been marked out." I glimpsed over the paper. Two men... reported killed in action... one body never found... my condolences... That was a summary of what hadn't been inked out. All names, dates, places, numbers: gone. I laid the paper down.

"What kind of pieces do you remember?" I asked softly. He sighed.

"Uh, I remember a man. He always had a bottle of alcohol in his hand. There's a pretty girl who seemed like she was in trouble a lot with the wrong kind of people. The only part of war I remember is mud, blood, and the feel of a gun in my hands. But the similarity between all of those: there was always cries and screams and blood, even in the happiest memories." He seemed dazed. Like he was in the middle of all those memories.

"What was a happy memory?" I talked quietly, not wanting him to stop. Not now.

"The happiest I can remember is running in a big field. Grass up to my knees. And that boy was running beside me. We were racing and laughing." He stopped for a minute but I didn't say anything.

"But it starts to turn bad. I start to here gunfire and explosions. When I look at the boy beside me, he's not a boy anymore. Neither am I. We were men, in army uniforms covered in mud. We weren't running in a field anymore. Instead we were running through the mud with guns in our hands. I look away for just a moment, and when I look back he's gone. And then it ends."

He stopped again and took a drink of coffee. I picked up my mug as well and sipped. All of this was so weird. My feelings were all jumbled up. I didn't know if I should feel sorry for him or not. It seems that he took the bits he remembered and built on them to create stories, if not the truth. We sat there for a while silent and drinking our coffee. I broke the silence.

"So you don't know how you got them?" He looked up and shook his head no.

"Well what's your first full memory?" I asked.

"My first full memory?" He repeated. I nodded.

"I woke up in the middle of nowhere. My face was slashed open and messily sewn together again. It hurt like hell. My head was fuzzy. All I had was a torn duffel bag with the contents thrown everywhere. All identification was gone and I didn't remember anything. The first thing that caught my eye was a joker card lying on my chest and a switchblade beside me." He shifted slightly and reached into his pocket. I noticed that he was slowly returning to the Joker I knew. That everyone knew.

He pulled out his infamous switchblade and held it up. He laid it down and searched through the box. A joker card was placed next to the knife. I stared at them uncomfortably.

"One name popped up in my mind. I want to say it was Jack. At least I feel like it was. That was either my name or his name. But it doesn't matter anymore. Now...now, I'm Joker." By now he had returned to his full Joker persona. And it was currently angry.

He picked his mug up again and hurtled it at the wall. It crashed and broke to pieces and coffee spilled everywhere. I jumped at the noise and looked at him.

He looked to me and then to the blade on the floor, licking his lips and scars. I edged away, not knowing what he would do. Suddenly he grabbed the knife and lunged for me. I shrieked and tried to crawl away but he grabbed me and pulled us both up, growling. We backed up until my back hit the wall.

His eyes were wild when he clicked open the switchblade and I squirmed in his grip. He licked his lips and put the blade up to my mouth.

"Why do ya look so sad kiddo? You should smile instead." His voice was high pitched now. The blade was pushed into my mouth and he pressed it in the corner.

"Joker! Joker, stop!" I squirmed harder. His grip tightened and his eyes were dark, ready to kill.

"Joker! Stop! No!" Blood started to fall when the knife pressed harder into my skin. I closed my eyes and was screaming now.

"JACK!"

The knife stopped. I opened my eyes. Joker's face changed and he pulled the knife from my mouth. He looked at me confused for a minute before his face twisted and he growled loudly. My back left the wall and I was thrown to the floor. I hit it grunting.

Joker stood there staring at me angrily. I tensed, waiting for him to attack me. Instead he growled viciously and rushed out the door, slamming it hard behind him.

I sat there staring at the door, shaking. What have I done?


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hey guys! I haven't updated in a long time I know. I'd say we're getting pretty close to an end. Not sure if this will have a sequel. Didn't originally plan one but have thought of some possible plots. If people seem interested enough, then I may start working on one. Just let me know. And as always thanks for everything! You guys have been my motivation!

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The ceiling was very ugly and slightly rotted. These are about the only observations you can make after staring at it for hours.

Joker's little rampage session left me a bit shaken, but it wore off soon enough. I wish I still had my iPod. It's so fucking boring. It doesn't seem that the police or Batman are anywhere close to finding us. Such a waste.

I didn't dare leave the room. No doubt he still had men guarding with orders of blow my damn head off if I tried to leave.

Every once in a while I think back to what he told me. About his past. What he remembered anyway.

No wonder he's so fucked up. I'm not sure if I should feel sorry for the psychopath. On one hand, he had a screwed up life which drove him to who he is now. Anyone would go mad over that.

But on the other hand, he has murdered hundreds of people. Even with that background it doesn't give him a get out of jail free card.

This is where I give up and try to focus on something else. Nothing much on the wall. Already studied the covers. Have I looked at his dresser yet? I think so.

Being as good as anything to stare at, I sat up. My head throbbed painfully and my stomach reminded me I haven't ate anything in a while. I've had to lose at least several pounds by now. Well, don't have to worry about being overweight, right? Don't have to worry about dehydration either. Got the bathroom sink for that.

My leg was still somewhat testy every now and then, but seemed to heal up approvingly.

The nice little decoration on my wrist just hurt when touched.

His dresser was pretty messy. It was heavily decorated with black, red and white paints. A little bit of green too. At one time, it was probably a very nice looking piece of furniture. Now it looked like a little kid got a hold of his craft paints and decided to paint mommy's dresser. Poor mom.

I remembered rooting through his drawers before and didn't find the urge to do it again. Now what?

When I was running out of ideas the door opened. It was one of Joker's men. The same one that had told me about the beer and pizza.

"Hey, Joker said to let ya out." He said gruffly. I nodded and followed him out.

"Don't try running, unless you want your brains splattered on the concrete." I didn't acknowledge what he said. He shrugged and we continued down the hallway.

A lot of Joker's men was there. They watched TV and talked about obscene things. Some of them wore clown masks for whatever reason. Didn't think they needed it now.

My stomach growled loudly and made me grimace from the pain. The man looked down at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Hungry?" He asked.

"Very."

He motioned for me to follow him. We past by the TV and some of the men whispered and laughed about something.

We went through one of the side doors and found a kitchen. More guys were here eating cereal or takeout. They looked our way for a minute before returning to eating.

He lead me to the fridge in the corner of the room and opened it up. He leaned back and gestured for me to look inside. There was some leftover takeout and some beer. I passed by that and was kinda surprised to find bread. I pulled it out and asked if they had any peanut butter. He opened a cupboard and tossed me a jar.

We sat at one of the tables and he watched as I ate. Which was very awkward.

"So, uh, what's your name?" I asked through a mouthful of bread and peanut butter. I took a swig of beer to wash it down.

"Bobby."

"K, nice to meet you." He looked away, his face blank.

When I finished we went back out to the main room. He grabbed some metal fold up chairs on the wall. He set them up close to the TV and we sat down. Some of the guys were playing one of the Call of Duty games.

One of the spectators of the game play spoke up and asked me something.

"So what ya do to be Joker's bitch?" All of the others follow suit laughing. My face burned red. Did he tell them?

"Ok, two things. One: It's none of your goddamn business. Two: What's it like being a loser working for a psychopathic clown?" I smiled sweetly as the room grew silent.

Silence did not last long.

From behind a dark chuckling started, edging closer and closer. All of the men tensed up.

"Two things dollface. One: They are indeed losers. Two: I'm not psychopathic."

I watched carefully as he passed me by. His hair was green again and I could only assume the warpaint was back in action. He took the remote from one of the guys and turned the TV to a news channel.

Then he casually took out a gun and aimed at the man who stuck his nose in places he shouldn't. Everyone around him jumped away but he sat frozen.

"She's right. It's none of your goddamn business." The trigger was pulled and the man's face splattered on the couch.

He came toward me and I tensed slightly. I was used to him. But not him with a gun. When he reached my side he lifted his jacket and replaced the gun. He then grabbed my arm and pulled me off of the chair. He sat down with a sigh. I tried to get up but he pushed me down again and slid me next to the chair, held in place by a hand wrapped around the back of my neck.

The volume on the TV was turned up and my attention focused there. It was Harvey Dent.

"...Let's consider the situation. Should we give in to this terrorist's demands? Do we really think he's goi..." A woman from the crowd interupted.

"You would rather protect an outlaw vigilante than the lives of citizens?" There were grumbles of agreement.

I looked up at Joker. He was attentive, eyes seeming to search the screen.

"Batman is an outlaw. But that's not why were demanding he turn himself in. We're doing it because were scared. We've been happy to let the Batman clean up our streets for us until now."

A man spoke up now.

"Things are worse then ever!" More grumbles of agreement from the disgruntled crowd.

Harvey's face turned very serious.

"Yes they are. But the night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming. One day the Batman will have to answer to the laws he's broken. But to us, not to this madman." Joker shifted ever so slightly. His grasp on my neck had removed itself long ago.

"No more dead cops!"

"Yeah!" There was clapping.

"He should turn himself in!"

"Give us the Batman!"

So many people were yelling now, demanding for blood.

"So be it. Take the Batman into custody." Harvey said. My brows scrunched in confusion.

"I am the Batman."

"What?!" I blurted out before I could bite my tongue.

Joker hummed quizzically.

What was going on? I know Harvey isn't Batman. Where's Bruce in all of this?

Cops continued to cuff Harvey and lead him away.


End file.
